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SPIRITUALISM 



OTHER SIGNS OF THE TIMES. 



By E. S. 



"And I SAW THREE UNCLEAN SPIRITS LIKE FROGS COME OUT OF THE MOUTH 

of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, and out of the 
mouth of the false prophet. 

"For they are the spirits of devils, working miracles, which go 
forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole world, to gather 
them to the battle of that great day of god almighty." 

Rev. xvi. 13, 14. 



LONDON : 
SIMPKIN, MARSHALL & CO., STATIONERS' HALL COURT, 

AND ALL BOOKSELLERS. 



PREFACE, 



When particular evils press hard upon the mind of 
a Christian, filling the heart with pity and sorrow 
regarding the results of such evils, it may be taken as 
an evidence that he is to be used to raise a voice of 
warning against what is producing wholesale delusion, 
defilement, and destruction. 

Thus is he called to engage in that warfare, the 
weapons of which " are not carnal, but mighty, through 
Grod, to the pulling down of strongholds, casting down 
imaginations and every high thing that exalteth itself 
against the knowledge of Grod, and bringing into cap- 
tivity every thought to the obedience of Christ.' ' 

Spiritualism is placed as the first subject in this 
book, not because it is more seducing and destructive 
than Eomanism or Infidelity, but because it is so little 
understood, and therefore so alarmingly attractive. 

Romanism and Infidelity are enemies of so long a 
standing, and are now being developed before us so 
practically, that their wickedness and corruption are 
better understood. 



IV PREFACE. 

What is attempted in the following pages on these 
overwhelming subjects is merely a touch. But the book 
is published with a desire that the Lord will own and 
bless its weak and limited testimony to His truth 
against the work of the enemy. And should it be the 
means of bringing one sinner out of darkness into the 
marvellous light of Christ, or undeceiving the self- 
deceived, the praise and the power shall be ascribed 
to Him by whom it is believed this endeavour was 
prompted. 

Critics may discover many expressions, and want of 
order in detail, whilst reading this book, at variance 
with their views. The author, however, hopes and 
believes that it will be the means of drawing attention 
to the solemn subjects of which it treats, and the 
errors which are working destruction in the world, 
deluding the professing Church, and damaging the 
peace and testimony of some in the Church of Christ. 



SPIEITUALISM 

AXD OTHEE SIGXS. 



In the following pages will be found quotations from 
pamphlets and papers which have been too little re- 
garded, although containing facts of stern and solemn 
importance, which cannot fail to arouse the God-fearing 
reader, or to arrest the attention of some others, who 
have not yet been brought to consider their ways, 
or the end to which such ways must inevitably lead 
them. 

Personal knowledge of individuals, both in America 
and England, who lend themselves to seducing spirits, 
and thus are brought to sympathize with "lying 
wonders," " witchcraft," " and all deceivableness of 
unrighteousness," has the more deeply impressed 
the writer with the importance of the publication 
of these warnings. They will be found to afford 
subject-matter for deep consideration and prayer 
on the part of Christians, and personal application 
on the part of those who have been deluded and 
seduced. 

The following information has been compiled with 
especial reference to the young. Concern for them 



A SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

should indeed move the heart of the Christian at the 
throne of grace. It is little to be wondered at if some 
look upon the young and inexperienced, in these per- 
plexing and wicked days, with deep and solemn appre- 
hension. But let those who through grace understand 
the signs of the times, be practically occupied in doing 
what they can, and all they can, to warn them of, and 
protect them from, the evil, by directing them in the 
way of truth and safety ; and let them bear a faithful, 
unmistakable testimony in their daily life to " the 
truth as it is in Jesus." 

How should those who have been called out of dark- 
ness into marvellous light, be constrained by the love of 
Christ to testify with all boldness against the various 
phases of sin, which are now so manifestly beguiling 
unsuspecting souls, while the enemy is insinuating a 
peace, when there is "no peace." 

Let those who know that they are of the truth, and 
shall " assure their hearts before Him," seek also to 
realize, " The Lord is on my side, I will not fear 
what man can do unto me." Under the power of this 
holy dignity, they would rise above that fear which 
" bringeth a snare ;" their united conduct would prove 
that their love was not only " in word and in tongue, but 
in deed and in truth." The times we live in demand 
from us that clear example which the looking away 
from each other to our ascended Lord alone will enable 
us to exhibit. 

Spiritualism, in its peculiar modern manifestations, 
and, no doubt, in its intentions, is comparatively" of 
recent date ; yet those who are the subjects of its de- 
lusive power find constant novelty in such resources, 
being supplied with new and spiritual " associates," 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 6 

who ever increase their interest and ruinous deception. 
Thus they multiply, and continue to indulge in further 
unlawful curiosity. "We see here a practical exposition 
of Gen. iii. 4 — 6 : " And the serpent said unto the 
woman, Ye shall not surely die : for Grod doth know 
that in the day ye eat thereof, then your eyes shall be 
opened, and ye shall be as gods, knowing good and 
evil. And when the woman saw that the tree was 
good for food, and that it was pleasant to the eyes, and 
a tree to be desired to make one wise, she took of 
the fruit thereof, and did eat, and gave also unto her 
husband with her; and he did eat." Was it not 
curiosity that prompted Eve, our first parent, to dis- 
obedience ? And what has been the universal result ? 
" The lust of the flesh, the lust of the eyes, and the 
pride of life." It may be also noticed that Satan 
ruined man by presenting a temptation which appealed 
chiefly to his natural senses ; and now, as an angel of 
light tells him, that the want of his soul can alone be 
satisfied by that which is spiritual, offering that satis- 
faction in spiritualism. This the deceived soul accepts, 
and "It shall even be as when an hungry man 
dreameth, and, behold, he eateth ; but he awaketh, and 
his soul is empty : or as when a thirsty man dreameth, 
and, behold, he drinketh ; but he awaketh, and, 
behold, he is faint, and his soul hath appetite " (Isa. 
xxix. 8). "He feedeth on ashes: a deceived heart 
hath turned him aside, that he cannot deliver his 
soul, nor say, Is there not a lie in my right hand?" 
(Isa. xliv. 20). 

The excitement derived from association with demons 
could not fail to speed these deluded ones in their 
rapid and downward course. Who shall say whether 

b 2 



4 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Romanism, Infidelity, or Spiritualism shall be the most 
successful in the end ? Judging according to the pre- 
sent aspect, and the energies and stratagems employed, 
their race is not likely to continue long. But which of 
these great enemies to truth and righteousness shall 
triumph over the greater number of souls taken captive, 
waits to be proved. 

When the devil, in the form of a serpent, tempted 
Eve, the knowledge of good and evil, which would 
exalt her to a level with her Maker, was presented to 
her as the desirable result of eating of the fruit. " She 
did eat, and gave also unto her husband with her ; and 
he did eat." The Lord Glod warned Adam that "if he 
eat of the tree of knowledge of good and evil, he should 
surely die." It is not said the knowledge of "evil" 
only, but " good and evil." In this is proved man's 
responsibility for his natural conscience, disobedience to 
which necessarily results in his condemnation, since his 
thoughts, between themselves, "accuse or excuse one 
another" (Horn. ii. 15). Every soul, therefore, merits 
the wages of sin, which is death. 

Those who are saved know this and feel it. Those 
who are unsaved know it, but feel it not. The former 
possess the light and teaching of the Holy Spirit ; the 
latter are blinded through the deceitfulness of sin. 
" The natural man receiveth not the things of the 
Spirit of (rod : for they are foolishness unto him : 
neither can he know them, because they are spiritually 
discerned" (1 Cor. ii. 14). 

Natural goodness is often found in man, but can 
extend only to his fellow-man ; whilst the goodness of 
God has been discovered to us in the man # Christ Jesus, 
and by faith in Him is enjoyed, not only a truer fellow- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. O 

ship between man and his fellow, but also with God as 
our Father, and with His Son Jesus, whose blood 
" cleanseth us from all sin." 

Again we return to our mother Eve. Her trans- 
gression may appear a very small act in itself; but 
being disobedience against Grod, it brought in the curse, 
under which every man is born, and therefore must 
eternally perish if he be left to himself. He has not, 
however, been left to himself, for the Son of man, who 
" led captivity captive, and received gifts for men ; yea, 
for the rebellious also, that the Lord Grod might dwell 
among them " (Ps. lxviii. 18), has said, " look unto me, 
and be ye saved " (Isa. xlv. 22). 

While writing or speaking on this or any other 
solemn subject concerning the eternal interests of our 
fellow-sinners, it is the privilege of the Christian to be 
pitiful, courteous, and kind — loving the poor sinner 
while hating his sin ; and where is the Christian who 
cannot sympathize, more or less, with those who are 
under the power and delusion of sin, of whatsoever kind 
it be ? " The trangression of the wicked saith within 
my heart, there is no fear of Grod before their eyes ;" 
so that the renewed soul, remembering its past ways, 
transgressions, and unbelief (1 Cor. vi. 11), is, on this 
very account, qualified to sorrow over, and constrained 
to cry out and warn, those who are standing on the 
brink of an eternal precipice, or with feet ready to 
" stumble on the dark mountains." From the variety 
of dispositions, temptations assail and affect us very 
differently, so that what is an overwhelming trial to one, 
may not only fail to touch, but even be repulsive to 
another. None of us know wherein our weakness lies 
till the temptation is presented ; but we may be quite 



6 SPIRITUALISM AKD OTHER SIGNS. 

sure that there is ample room in every one of us, when 
left to ourselves, for sin with all its present deluding 
fascinations (but future misery and torment) to take 
complete hold of us, and so distort our common sense, 
corrupt the heart, and blind the mind, that the practical 
result is " calling evil good and good evil." Hence we 
read, " Pray that ye enter not into temptation." Those 
who heed not this safeguard must fall a prey to pre- 
sumption, and expect to reap what they sow : " He 
that soweth to his flesh shall of the flesh reap cor- 
ruption." 

Most assuredly these have not been taught of God. 
Having eyes they see not, and ears they hear not, and 
so have been taken captive by the prince of this world. 
The very fact of meddling with " demons," is a con- 
clusive proof of the awful condition of those who are 
the willing captives of such destructive fascinations. 
This sad state of things increases the responsibility of 
such as have eyes and see, ears and hear, to pray and 
watch for these victims of satanic craft, that they may be 
delivered, and by godly sorrow brought to repentance 
unto life. Nothing else or less than the mighty power 
of God can deliver from this tight grasp of the enemy 
of souls. 

It is solemnizing to know that multitudes are held in 
bondage by this very frightful evil. But from whom 
and by what means is this the case ? " Let no man 
say when he is tempted, I am tempted of God ; for God 
cannot be tempted with evil : neither tempteth He any 
man : but every man is tempted, when he is drawn 
away of his own lust and enticed. Then when lust 
hath conceived, it bringeth forth sin : and sin, when it 
is finished, bringeth forth death" (James i. 13). 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. / 

Let those who are identified with spiritualism re- 
member by what gratuitous personal act they brought 
themselves into a position to witness development from 
the world of demons. The many hindrances the Lord's 
people meet with from the world, the flesh, and the 
devil in their narrow path of sanctification, suffice to 
prove the necessity of " trying the spirits whether they 
are of Grod." Are the subjects of spiritualism prepared 
to do this ? and are they willing to try their principles 
and conduct by this sure and blessed test — viz., " My 
sheep hear my voice, and they follow me ?' " For if our 
heart condemn us, Grod is greater than our heart, and 
knoweth all things. Beloved, if our heart condemn us 
not, then have we confidence toward Grod " (1 John 
iii. 20, 21). Let them look well to this; and if they 
can still suppose that God is preparing them to dwell 
with Himself in the coming glory through their inter- 
course with and schooling by " demons," they are sup- 
posing and acting out a lie ; which necessarily places 
them amongst those to whom the Lord says, " Ye are 
of your father the devil, and the lusts of your father 
ye will do. He was a murderer from the beginning, 
and abode not in the truth, because there is no truth 
in him .... for he is a liar and the father of it" 
(John viii. 44). 

Come to the vital point again. Can they prove that 
they are not in league with "this father" to murder 
their own soul? We leave this with them to settle 
now, before it shall be irrevocably settled for them in 
eternity. " Time is short ;" they are spending it in a 
dream ; and through the influence of these lying 
wonders, they take it for granted that what are really 
spiritual opiates administer that peace and joy which 



O SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

they so greatly need, and are perhaps in search of, but 
not according to truth. 

The fact is, they have refused to drink from "the Foun- 
tain of living waters, and hewed them out cisterns, broken 
cisterns, that can hold no water" (Jer. ii. 13). "Why 
do they desire to obtain what they do not yet enjoy ? 
and why do they use means to possess what they have 
not yet obtained ? The answer is plain : they are 
sinners, and they feel the bitter results of sin, in common 
with the whole race of man. Daily life, # with all its 
disappointments, grievances, heartlessness, and labour, 
is irksome and weary work to them. They, neverthe- 
less, possess advantages which multitudes do not enjoy, 
and for which they will have to render an account. 
Oh that they would bear with us, for we want to go 
into their case with sympathy and faithfulness. They 
have already endeavoured, by worldly pleasures, to 
obtain relief from the sorrows incident to a fallen state, 
and having met with disappointments, they now seek 
it in intercourse with spirits ; but they must ultimately 
find this also to be a mere cistern instead of a fountain, 
and incapable of holding water. Nevertheless, their 
ways and means failed them, not knowing where to 
look, or whom to trust. So far, good experience ; but 
what use have they made of it ? What practical 
benefit has it brought them ? They have learnt that 
"man in his best estate is altogether vanity" — that 
" he who trusteth in his own heart is a fool." Bring 
these truths to bear upon their own case. Have they 
not limited their trust and desires to what they found 
or expected to grasp in the creature ? Disappointment, 
instead of happiness, was the necessary result. Their 
present condition proves that they were then, and are 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. U 

still, following their own desires. If they had sought 
the Lord, the Fountain of living waters, He would 
have been found of them ; but they lent their ears and 
senses to satisfy cariosity at first, then gave over their 
affections and hopes to spirits, well-known for their 
power to adapt their influence to the peculiar tastes and 
characteristics of every individual, whether moral, im- 
moral, or professedly religious. A qualified spirit is 
never wanting to direct and sympathize in that which 
is manifestly evil, as well as that which is professedly 
good. We therefore marvel that men and women have 
been so duped as to confide in that which appears to 
" send forth at the same place sweet water and bitter." 
In this age of religionism, we ought not, perhaps, to 
be surprised at the subtlety of the influence which they 
exert, for were their operations seen in the light of the 
truth, they would be regarded as "false Christs in secret 
chambers," and the enemy would be foiled in his pur- 
poses. But he thus succeeds in inducing his deceived 
ones to accept spiritualism, his counterfeit for Chris- 
tianity, as affording all that satisfaction of soul which 
can really and only be found in Christ. Passages- 
of Scripture (as in the temptation of the Saviour) are 
wrested from the connection in which they stand, and 
so made, not only to found spiritualism on Grod's 
Word, but to justify all kinds of spiritual influence. 
Thus the "angel of light" administers his deadly 
poison through these "demons," who go forth under 
their master to deceive and take possession of poor souls, 
qualifying them to take part with him in his final battle. 
All this frightful delusion is going on in the face of a 
striking feature connected with spiritualism, sufficient, 
we might think, to shake the confidence at least of the 



10 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

" religionists " amongst them — namely, that each one 
can walk according to the course of this world, differ- 
ing only in matters of taste or habit, some being 
more sober-minded and attentive to outward forms and 
services, and others carnal, sensual, and even devilish. 
From jealousy for the Master's honour, and for love of 
the truth as it is in Him, let there be no photograph 
of black into white, no " doctrines of devils " and un- 
righteousness regarded as truth and holiness. Let 
everything have its proper place assigned to it. Where 
is the spiritualist to be found who is living by faith on 
the Son of God ? 

The whole system is essentially opposed to faith in, 
and walking with, Jesus Christ ; and the spiritualist knows 
it (we do not say how many of them are included in 
this assertion), although they are under a blinding in- 
fluence, and are thereby taught to believe that special 
and favoured blessing has been conferred upon them. 
(This assumption, with the Word of God before our 
eyes and in our hearts, is truly one of the solemn 
signs of the time.) Jude 12, 13, 17 — 19 : " These are 
spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with 
you, feeding themselves without fear : clouds they are 
without water, carried about of winds ; trees whose 
fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up 
by the roots ; raging waves of the sea, foaming out 
their own shame ; wandering stars, to whom is reserved 
the blackness of darkness for ever. . . . But, beloved, 
remember ye the words which were spoken before of 
the apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ ; how that they 
told you there should be mockers in the last time, who 
should walk after their own ungodly lusts. These be they 
who separate themselves, sensual, having not the Spirit. " 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 11 

1 Tim. iv. 1, 2 : " Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, 
that in the latter times some shall depart from the 
faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of 
devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having their con- 
science seared with a hot iron." It may be well to 
remember that witchcraft is named as one of the works 
of the flesh (Gal. v. 19—21). 

The spiritualists are divided in the matter of what 
the spirits are with whom they communicate. Some 
of them receive, and hold intercourse with, these 
" demons," believing them to be the spirits of their 
departed friends, sent to minister present comfort and 
peace, and to fill them with hope for the future. The 
past, present, and future life interests, experiences, &c, 
afford ample subject-matter for the intercourse between 
spirits (" demons ") and humanity. Others, like Gallio 
(who cared for none of these things), under the delusion 
of this spiritualism, are kept asleep altogether, as 
regards any desire or fear about their souls and eternal 
prospects. We have not heard of a single case in 
which a poor sinner has received any warning or teach- 
ing about " the way, the truth, and the life," and that 
" the wages of sin is death, but the gift of God is 
eternal life." While every variety of character, discovery, 
and their religion, are occupying the intense sympathy 
of spiritualists, salvation by the Lord Jesus Christ, 
as taught by the Holy Spirit, is wholly omitted, and has 
yet to be revealed to them ; although many spiritualists 
are willing to be persuaded that they are saved, being 
content to take the teaching of spirits as a substitute 
for the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to take of the 
things of Jesus and to reveal them unto the soul. 
We ask if any one can give a single instance of 



12 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

such an exceptionable spirit (or "demon") having 
been manifested ? A teacher sent by Grod to tell 
about Jesus Christ in the power of the Holy Ghost? 
Oh no ! this is not their work, neither would it suit 
their errand. Counterfeit work abounds, and such does 
suit them, and well becomes their purpose. It is found 
to be one of their most successful fascinations. Thus 
these poor dupes are nourished, and their profound 
ignorance is locked up with the sweets of delusive and 
seductive mystery with demons, of whom they have been 
overcome — of the same therefore aro they brought in 
bondage. 

There is another characteristic worth noticing in this 
modern development of witchcraft. Spiritualism appeals 
to the " wise men after the flesh, to the mighty and to 
the noble," who cannot see how opposed this is to the 
operation of the Holy Spirit, whose office it is to make 
" the poor of this world rich in faith," so " confounding 
the wisdom of the wise." Was it not in the poverty of 
the "Firstborn" Himself that the Holy Spirit en- 
riched man's nature by filling it of the fulness of 
G-od? 

If the reader fail to perceive this solemn contrast in 
the light in which it is here presented, he must readily 
admit the fact that spiritualism is confined chiefly to 
the unoccupied in society. The poor, illiterate, and 
uninfluential would not so well serve the subtle purpose 
of the enemy in the struggle of these latter days. 
Happily for them their energies are taken up with the 
necessary occupations of daily life, and thus their minds 
and time are guarded by Jionest realities; their position 
preserves them from what the more idle, discontented, 
and carious succumb to ; and on this terra firma, the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 13 

working multitudes find no inclination for, or profit in, 
turning aside from the way of their fathers : they are 
not inclined to shut their ears to truth, or give them- 
selves up to spiritualism, which necessarily demands 
surrender of conscience, while it promises increased 
liberty. 

It may be well to mention here, for those whose 
memories fail them, or for those who have not read 
history, that thousands of witches have been killed in 
England and elsewhere. It is on record that, " during 
the space of 200 years, a number of witches, amount- 
ing to something like 30,000, were put to death for 
witchcraft." 

How rarely is witnessed the deliverance of any 
spiritualist from this soul- destroying snare ; how few 
are made alive to the responsibility of a course so 
manifestly contrary to Scripture, which invariably 
points the soul to Jesus alone as the source of all that 
they so blindly seek. The fountain of life and source 
of peace says, " Come unto me, all ye that labour and 
are heavy laden, and I will give you rest. Take my 
yoke upon you, and learn of me; for I am meek and 
lowly in heart : and ye shall find rest unto your souls. 
For my yoke is easy, and my burden is light " (Matt. 
xi. 28—30). " All that the Father giveth me shall 
come to me ; and him that cometh to me I will in no 
wise cast out" (John vi. 37). Who would. not prefer 
the poorest and most laborious position, and to do 
business with their fellow- men, to that in which the 
eyes, ears, and heart are prepared to hold intercourse 
and do business with " demons," in a world yet un- 
known to them bodily ? 

Again we say to spiritualists, " Try the spirits 



14 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

whether they are of God " (1 John iv. 1). Has the love 
of Christ taken you captive, and are you receiving His 
gifts purchased by His own blood? Do you know 
what it is to have the Holy Spirit dwelling in your 
hearts, and taking of the things of Jesus and showing 
them unto you ? " Now if any man have not the 
Spirit of Christ, he is none of His" (Eom. viii. 9). 
When will you be wise ? When will ye " consider 
your ws^s?" How many of you intend to be left 
with those who " love darkness rather than light, be- 
cause their deeds are evil," till you shall say to the 
mountains and rocks, " Fall on us, and hide us from the 
face of Him that sitteth on the throne, and from the 
wrath of the Lamb : for the great day of His wrath 
is come; and who shall be able to stand?" (Eev. vi. 
16, 17). 

Some are, indeed, lulling themselves to sleep with 
lies dipped in oil, and taking it for granted that they 
will be able to deliver themselves, if necessary, at some 
"more convenient season," while the devil walketh 
about "as a roaring lion," seeking to devour them 
(Pet. v. 8) . May not these solemn words be applied to 
such, "Hell from beneath is moved for thee to meet 
thee at thy coming?" (Isa. xiv. 9). 

This awful future must be of necessity the full de- 
velopment of what is now indulged in as an amuse- 
ment by those who are asleep in the arms of witches, 
necromancers, magicians, and demons. This society is 
cherished, not only as novel, but as promising power to 
establish friendship between embodied and disembodied 
spirits ; and this — regarded as so vastly superior an 
order — is allowed to monopolize social intercourse ; the 
result of which is, the division of families and the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 15 

destruction of their peace. They cannot descend from 
their heights to hold intercourse with those who occupy 
so low a place, pitying their uninteresting ways as old- 
fashioned prejudices, whilst such wondrous discoveries 
are bein^ made. 

We would here digress, just to remark on another 
subject, but bearing out the same principle — the 
Shakespeare tercentenary. " The stuff that has forced 
its way into the public press has been most humiliating 
to the common sense of the country generally. No one 
has taken the trouble to wade through the nonsense 
that has been written on the subject, without perceiving 
that it has been confined to a few professionals and their 
dupes. The idolatry of Shakespeare never yet extended 
to the masses; and no attempt to make nis works 
popular with them will ever succeed." 

It might be well to prove from Grod's Word, the only 
test of truth, why and how it can be accounted for that 
embodied and disembodied spirits are so closely allied. 
Whilst this is actually and undeniably the experience 
of the spiritualists, what is the experience of the spirits ? 
" One feature of their unclean and debasing operations, 
presented with remarkable prominence in the New 
Testament, is that of incorporating themselves with 
men in the body, superseding and directing the will, 
inciting the passions, destroying the reason, under- 
mining the health, and doing various forms of despi- 
cable mischief." We may see here another atmosphere, 
but the same contagion as Romanism ; each must claim 
relationship with the other, while both testify of the 
vnckan, and their birthplace, the bottomless pit. 

When the man Christ Jesus was here in the body, 
He was called "Beelzebub," and His miracles were 



16 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

attributed to satanic power. Now the tables are turned, 
the works (or miracles) of lying spirits are honoured ; 
satanic demons are courted, trusted, and consulted 
in the place of the Lord Jesus Christ, according to 
the ordinary mode and stratagem of the prince of 
this world : he is a transforming master, shifting 
his quarters; a captain presenting arms; a minister 
quoting texts, crying " peace, peace," as the case may 
be. Satan, being the most experienced of all created 
beings, must present temptations t to the professing 
world in some "religious " garb, to satisfy the natural 
conscience, and to delude the excited feelings of the 
multitude. He gives them " a name to live while they 
are dead," silencing the voice of conscience with a 
round of ritual observances. Thus the enemy of true 
peace finds open access to the hearts of all classes. 
This is the age which facilitates the purposes of the 
deceiver, and who can doubt but that he who beguiled 
Eve is now glutting over the rapid accession to the 
number of his captives ? 

Age after age has borne testimony to the unchang- 
ing and deadly designs of the adversary, who has 
ransacked every resource, enabling him to establish 
himself in every nook and corner of man's heart, so as 
to control every circumstance and transaction of his 
life. And the various phases of his operations to 
beguile men are gradually and almost imperceptibly 
unfolding the mystery of iniquity. 

Turning tables, mesmerism, and clairvoyance have 
paved the way for spiritualism, which is now, in all 
quarters of the globe, displaying its unrivalled audacity, 
in professing to make happy through time those who 
are unhappy, and to save through eternity those who 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 17 

are not saved. In the dark signs of these portentous 
times may be heard the distant boom of approaching 
wrath. 

In the midst of all this foretold ripening for destruc- 
tion, can there be any development of iniquity more 
appalling than the name of our blessed Lord being used 
in the devil's merchandize with souls ? No higher or 
more attractive standard can he carry than that of the 
name of the Lord in his " legion " work. And hence, 
with this appliance, his success in pressing recruits of 
all ages into his army against the Lord. 

It may be a warning to some to ask, Who are his 
sergeants ? Those who know the work of " mediums " 
will at once perceive something like an organized force, 
under the command of the prince of this world. 

Whoever is capable of believing that these spirits can 
have fellowship with Jesus, must indeed be filled with 
the spirit of their father : he was a deceiver from the 
beginning. A roaring lion, with nearly four thousand 
years' experience, well knows how to make inroads and 
to dig his own deep pits in the affections of blinded 
sinners, suiting all to the disposition and dispensation 
of the times. Through his agents, we now see him, 
dressed in sheep's clothing, professing to impart the 
love, wisdom, and consolations of a Saviour, while the 
pitiable, helpless lambs of his counterfeit flock are tell- 
ing us the spirits are making them so happy, " so sym- 
pathizing." They " could not live without intercourse 
with spirits." "Such peace, and joy, and reality 
never before felt — all trials and difficulties are become 
so easy to bear, and everything is made so plain, 
and arranged for their good." " In fact, it is quite 
another existence altogether." " The right medicines 



18 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

for the body prescribed.' ' "All questions pondered 
and answered." "We enjoy such confidence in one 
another, and so much love and goodwill amongst 
ourselves, that we would not be without intercourse with 
spirits for the world." 

There is another phase in this spiritualism which it 
is of the utmost importance to notice, namely, that 
it has its own counterfeit. And this imitation of 
spiritualism is made to be introductory to spiritualism 
itself by the great deceiver. Many persons, having 
examined the tricks of those who profess to act as 
mediums, and discovering the fallacy, are led to sup- 
pose that spiritualism itself is an unreality, and there- 
fore are led to regard it as a harmless amusement at 
first, until practically they are ensnared into an accept- 
ance of and delight in all its diabolical influence. 

In order to prove to what extent spiritualism has 
already spread, we quote from an article written by 
Mr. William Howitt, one of their most distinguished 
advocates in this country, in the Spiritual Magazine 
for November, 1863 :— 

" During ten incessant years the whole of North America 
has been in motion and in excitement with the wonderful 
outburst of spirit-life. The whole of that vast continent 
was thrown into a ferment like one gigantic hive of bees at 
swarming time. Scarcely did Jerusalem and Judea, and 
the astonished world of Greek and Eomon wisdom, exhibit 
a more agitated condition when the first dazzling day of 
Christianity broke upon them, than did America at this 
second advent ' in spirit and in great poiver. 1 Like the 
revelation of Christ's eternal religion, this second birth of it 

was in an obscure spot and amongst simple people 

'There are now in the United States,' Mr. Clarke tells 
us (in his "Plain Ghiide to Spiritualism"), '500 public 
mediums, who receive visitors; more than 50,000 more 
private ones ; 500 books and pamphlets have been pub- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 19 

listed on the subject, and many of them immensely cir- 
culated. There are 500 public speakers and lecturers on 
it, and more than 1,000 occasional ones. There are nearly 
2,000 places for public circles, conferences, or lectures, and 
in many places nourishing Sunday-schools. The believers, 
the decisive believers, number about 2,000,000 ; while the 
nominal ones are nearly 5,000,000. In the eastern con- 
tinent the number may be reckoned at 1,000,000. The 
whole number now on the globe supposed to recognize the 
fact of spiritual intercourse cannot fall short of 20,000,000. 
In Paris, and in different parts of France, the manifestations 
have been of almost every kind, and of the most decisive 
and distinguished character. Great numbers of persons 
have been healed, by therapeutic mediums, of diseases and 
injuries incurable by all ordinary means. Some of these 
persons are well known to me, and are every day bearing 
their testimony in aristocratic society to their cures by 
spiritual agency. Many persons have been called to life 
when pronounced perfectly dead by their medical attendants. 
Deaf and dumb persons have been gifted and re- gifted with 
speech and hearing, either by mediumistic manipulation or 
by direct prayer. A most extraordinary case of this latter 
kind is that of the youth Grigott, of Briac, attested by 
the doctors themselves in the Revue Spiritualiste, torn, i., 
p. 322. But, in fact, a very large volume of spiritual cases 
of what is called the supernatural might be selected from 
the volumes of the Revue Spiritualiste and the Revue 
Spirite, certified by names of persons, places, and wit- 
nesses. The direct spirit writings obtained in hundreds of 
instances by Baron Gruldenstubbe and various other dis- 
tinguished men, are familiar to all who know anything of 
spiritualism. Spirit drawings are equally well known in 
France, some of which have been engraved, as the re- 
markable one of the Maison de Mozart. The musical 
demonstrations have been and are equally singular. The 
one great fact, however, stands prominent as the Alps on 
the bosom of Europe. Spiritualism, the great theologic and 
philosophic reformer of the age, the great re-quickener of 
religious life, the great consoler and establisher of hearts, 
the great herald to the wanderers of earth, starved upon 
the husks of mere college dogmas, and loaded with a sore 
pilgrim's pack of materialism, is marching calmly onward 
amid the nations, and on all sides rejoicing souls are flow-* 

c 2 



20 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

ing towards it. The stone cut out of the mountain without 
hands is rolling on its way, and promising ere long to fill 
the whole earth.' " 

After these statements, we may well say, if people 
will remain so ignorant and so shortsighted as to persist 
in judging of such a reality by its counterfeit, they 
must necessarily fall into the snare of the wicked one. 
Admitting so unsound a principle, the judgment of the 
enlightened would ere long " turn aside like a broken 
bow," and find themselves, to use another figure, 
launched upon a tempestuous sea, without pilot or 
compass. 

Apt scholars they would make for the Bishop of 
Colenso's teaching, and for all the infidelity and 
sophistry of man's reason, now put forth with such 
bold and fearless presumption. " The prophets 

PROPHESY FALSELY, AND THE PRIESTS BEAR RULE 
BY THEIR MEANS J AND MY PEOPLE LOVE TO HAVE 
IT SO I AND WHAT WILL YE DO IN THE END THERE- 
OF ? " (Jer. v. 31). " Nevertheless the founda- 
tion OF GrOD STANDETH SURE, HAVING THIS SEAL, 

The Lord knoweth them that are His " (2 Tim. 
ii. 19). "They that trust in the Lord shall 

BE AS MOUNT ZlON, WHICH CANNOT BE REMOVED, 
BUT ABIDETH FOR EVER " (Psalm CXXV. 1). 

Again, do they allow themselves to judge of a reality 
by its counterfeit, in matters which relate to their tem- 
poral interests ? I trow not. In the case of finding a 
counterfeit sovereign, they know that it is base because 
they have seen the true coin. But from their ignorance 
of spiritualism itself, they judge it to be what they find 
its counterfeit is. On this common-sense principle, let 
us deal with all counterfeits (and what has not its coun- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 21 

terfeit ?), then we shall be prepared to know what is, and 
what is not reality, whether a reality of evil or reality 
of good, instead of calling " evil good and good evil," 
thus subjecting ourselves to whatever the deceit and 
desperate wickedness of man's heart and the devil may 
present to our minds or hearts. 

We may depend upon it when tricks, sleight-of-hand, 
juggling, and such like are practised in lieu of spiritual- 
ism to deceive, or for personal gain, &c, the bystanders 
naturally take it for granted that there can be no harm 
in trying their skill in such amusements. By-and-by 
these so called innocent recreations will bring them 
into contact with genuine mediums, those who are made 
capable of receiving and imparting, together with all the 
deluding traps and pits involved in meddling with so 
frightful a world of iniquity. " Now the Spirit speaketh 
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart 
from the faith, giving heed to seducing spirits, and 
doctrines of devils ; speaking lies in hypocrisy ; having 
their conscience seared with a hot iron " (1 Tim. iv. 
1, 2). 

And nothing to be wondered at, while we see people 
on such a slippery inclined plane, and, like children 
blindfolded, playing with what must harden the heart 
into adamant, and sear the conscience — so long as they 
allow themselves to be the dupes of lying spirits, whose 
sole object is to ruin them ; and in so doing they accom- 
plish their master's errand, who endeavoured to tempt 
and overcome even the sinless Man, the Lord Jesus 
Christ. No marvel, then, that sinners, unregenerated, 
and therefore unprotected, are taken captive. 

This very solemn procedure brings before us what is 
written Matt. iv. 3 — 10 : " And when the tempter 



22 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

came to Him, lie said, If thou be the Son of God, 
command that these stones be made bread. But He 
answered and said, It is written, Man shall not live by 
bread alone, but by every word that proceedeth out of 
the mouth of God. Then the devil taketh Him up 
into the holy city, and setteth him on a pinnacle of the 
temple, and saith unto Him, If thou be the Son of God, 
cast thyself down : for it is written, He shall give His 
angels charge concerning thee : and in their hands they 
shall bear thee up, lest at any time thou dash thy foot 
against a stone. Jesus said unto him, It is written 
again, Thou shalt not tempt the Lord thy God. Again 
the devil taketh Him up into an exceeding high moun- 
tain, and showeth Him all the kingdoms of the world, 
and the glory of them ; and saith unto him, All these 
things will I give thee, if thou wilt fall down and 
worship me. Then saith Jesus unto him, Get thee 
hence, Satan, for it is written, Thou shalt worship the 
Lord thy God, and Him only shalt thou serve." 

In this temptation which our blessed Lord and 
Master passed through, compared with every repetition 
of the devil's temptations by which man is 'tried, 
there is a vital distinction, though closely allied. The 
God-man was proof against all the machinations of the 
devil, because in Him was found nothing to respond to 
his influence ; and it is only when the Christian refers 
the devil to Christ, who is in him, that Satan is over- 
come, for in man's nature, whilst unrenewed, the prince 
of this world finds everything to answer to his wish. 

The day must come, and probably is nigh, when 
mediums will find their supposed exaltation and light 
utterly fail them. The "superiority of our age," the 
" wondrous advance in the arts and sciences," " know- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 23 

ledge of, and discoveries in, things hitherto unknown," 
are alleged as the cause and justification of what is, 
in truth, a daring attempt to change the unchangeable 
laws of Grod's holy government. They thrust them- 
selves into a position where their business can only be 
transacted with spirits from the unseen world. This 
involves, without controversy, that any one occupying 
the place of a medium assumes to be a messenger 
between Grod and man. This conclusion will meet with 
the full approbation of some, while others will ignore 
and vehemently protest against the assumption of this 
awful responsibility. Nevertheless, solemn and frightful 
as it is, it is really true, and the result of their own 
showing ; for be it known, that mediums and spiritual- 
ists claim to themselves the knowledge of Grod and 
spiritual attainments. 

The owning or disowning, the knowledge or ignorance 
of a fact, cannot make it less a fact. Can a spiritualist 
be found to own that she or he is associated with 
demons ? We believe not : then we simply ask them, 
from whom are these spirits sent ? by whom and for 
what purpose are they invoked ? and what will be the 
ultimatum? To form a correct answer to these three 
queries, there must be a practical, as well as theoretical, 
knowledge of the plain and incontrovertible fact that 
Grod is the source of all good, and the devil the source 
of all evil — involving that every agent, visible and 
invisible, must own Grod or the devil as its master. 
Through the instigation of spiritualists, they are prying 
into those things which are not unfolded in the Word of 
Grod. We would here remind individuals who profess 
to be associated with spirits in their way to heaven, that 
God requires His servants to walk by faith. The sight 



24 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

of and intercourse with spirits is never represented as 
the way of communion between Grod and man. There 
is but one Holy Spirit, and by His operations only can 
Christ be revealed to the soul. The sinner, then, being 
born again, believes in Christ Jesus, and walks by 
faith. All this is in the power of the Holy Spirit, who 
dwells in every believer ; and is therefore " a holy 
temple unto the Lord." Those who are thus blessed 
with a revelation of Jesus Christ by the Holy Spirit, 
may well be content to keep aloof from all other spirits. 

" In this the children of Grod are manifest, and the 
children of the devil : whosoever doeth not righteousness 
is not of Grod" (1 John iii. 10). We read, "Between 
us and you there is a great gulf fixed." This most 
solemn principle holds good now. Eternity is only a 
full development of principles and conditions now held 
and lived in. Is it not then a vital individual matter to 
search and see on which side of the gulf we are note 
found ? Let death or the coming of the Lord meet you 
— where will you then be found? Fixed unalterably 
with the devil and his angels in the pit, or made like 
unto Christ, and with Him in the glory, no more to go 
out. " To-day is the day of salvation, therefore harden 
not your hearts" Is it not better for thee to " cut off" 
now, and to bear with trying results from false friends, 
who are now deceiving you on the mouth of the pit, 
and to be looked upon by them as "halt or maimed " 
(and perhaps, at first, feeling yourself to be so), than 
to be cast into hell, into the fire that never shall be 
quenched ? 

This labyrinth, of delusion, involving such awful 
results, may indeed call forth the deepest pity and 
prayer for one and all who form part of so solemn a 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 25 

community — " having eyes, but see not." " If any 
man have not the Spirit of Christ, he is none of His " 
(Rom. viii. 9). 

Can spiritualists apply these searching Scriptures and 
feel easy, confident, and happy in the prospect of death 
and eternity, while engaged in their delusive proceed- 
ings ? They are responsible for the use they make of 
(rod's holy "Word. 

How deep will be their dismay if not delivered out 
of the snare of the devil before the " wicked one be 
revealed, whom the Lord shall consume with the Spirit 
of His mouth, and shall destroy with the brightness of 
His coming : even him, whose coming is after the 
working of Satan with all power and signs and lying 
wonders, and with all deceivableness of unrighteousness 
in them that perish ; because they received not the love 
of the truth, that they might be saved " (2 Thess. ii. 
8—10). 

But however these spiritual opium-eaters may mystify 
others and deceive themselves, they must own that Grod 
is the Almighty, and the supreme Governor and Judge 
of all men. And " He is of purer eyes than to behold 
iniquity, and cannot look upon sin." 

Is there no solemn warning in the ease of Uzzah ? 
In the former dispensation a man's profanation of holy 
things met with immediate punishment in the death 
of the offender, but in this dispensation of grace " the 
longsuffering of our Lord is salvation " (2 Peter iii. 
15, 16). 

This dispensation will close with the coming of the 
Lord to gather His people to Himself; how blessed, 
then, for those who are " looking for and hasting " 
His coming. "Beloved, now are we the sons of 



26 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Grod, and it doth not yet appear what we shall be: 
but we know that, when He shall appear, we shall be 
like Him ; for we shall see Him as He is. And every 
man that hath this hope in Him, purmeth himself, 
even as He is pure " (1 John iii. 2, 3). 

As it was only by the shedding of His own blood that 
the Lord Jesus Christ could procure the true peace and 
blessedness which He gives to all who come to Him, how 
overwhelming is the condition of those who, adopt- 
ing spiritualism as the source of these, have rejected 
Sim, and have " trodden under foot the Son of (rod." 
Those to whom the blood has spoken peace, and who 
truly have " fellowship with the Father and with His 
Son Jesus Christ," must indeed contemplate with dismay 
and solemn apprehension the portion of those who will 
not " be found in Him at that day." 

Satan, at this time, is uniting all his old deceptions 
in new and attractive forms to those which arise from 
the present state of the world-; and sin is taking 
gigantic strides in the development of its deep and 
still deeper resources, as we near the end of the dispen- 
sation. 

The writer now directs the reader to the quotations 
referred to in the beginning of the book : — 

" What is spiritualism ? There can, we think, be only 
one true answer returned. It is (whether we regard it as 
a delusion or a reality), in point of fact, necromancy ; a 
practice not only emphatically forbidden under the Old 
Testament, but which, even in the New, we find classed by 
St. Paul under the general denomination of 'witchcraft,' 
with such ' works of the flesh ' as idolatry, murder, 
adultery, and drunkenness; concerning all of which the 
Apostle adds the solemn declaration, ' that they which do 
such things shall not inherit the kingdom of God' (Gal. 
v. 19—21). 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 27 

" Whether spiritualism is in reality what it claims to 
be — a means of communication with departed souls — is a 
further question. Three theories may be said to be cur- 
rent on this point. 1. That it is altogether an imposture 
and delusion. 2. That it is to be traced to the operation 
of occult but natural causes, being closely allied, if not 
identical, with the phenomena of animal magnetism. 
3. That it is in truth, as it professes to be, a species of 
modern demonism. Which of these theories may contain 
the most truth, we shall not here attempt to decide; 
simply observing, that we are decidedly of opinion that ' we 
must combine all three' in order to approximate to the 
whole truth of the matter. Be this, however, as it may ; 
whether spiritualism is an imposition or a reality, the 
plain duty of every Christian man seems to be laid down 
regarding it in the exhortation of the Apostle : , ' Have 
no fellowship with the unfruitful works of darkness, but 
rather reprove them ' (Eph. v. 11). 

"What if spiritualism, in its present half-serious, half- 
ludicrous phase, is designed by Satan as the thin edge 
of the wedge, to prepare men's minds for, and to put them 
off their guard against, some further, more open, and startling 
manifestations of the same character ? Is there any intimation 
in the prophetic Word to render such a supposition pro- 
bable ? To afford some answer to this inquiry is the 
object of the present remarks. It is a remarkable fact, 
that in the year 1842, six years before the first appearance 
of spiritual phenomena in America, the late excellent Kev. 
Edward Bickersteth, himself a zealous and able student 
of prophecy, anticipated something of the kind. In his 
introduction to Charlotte Elizabeth's work on Angelology, 
entitled ' Principalities and Powers,' published in that year, 
he wrote as follows : — ' Looking at the signs of the times, 
and the long neglect and unnatural denial of all angelic 
ministration or spiritual influence, and at the express 
predictions of false Christs and false prophets, who should 
show great signs and wonders, insomuch that if it were possible 
they should deceive the very elect ; and that when men receive 
not the love of the truth that they might be saved, for this cause 
God shall send them strong delusion tliat they should believe a 
lie; I cannot but think there is a painful prospect of a 
6udden recoil and religious revulsion from the present 
unbelief and misbelief, to an unnatural and undistinguish- 



28 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

ing ceedtjlity, when Antichrist shall appear in his latest 
form, with signs and lying wonders. I would, therefore, 
leave an earnest caution on the minds of my readers : 
' Beloved, believe not every spirit, but try the spirits, whether 
they are of God. 1 The Scriptures have forewarned us before- 
hand, that we may not be led away with the error of the 
wicked, and fall from our own steadfastness. In connection 
with this subject there are two passages of Scripture which 
suggest themselves as peculiarly significant. The first is 
1 Tim. iv. 1, 2: 'Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that 
in the latter times some shall depart from the faith, giving 
heed to seducing spirits, and doctrines of devils ; speaking 
lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared with a 
hot iron.' So we read in our English version ; and this 
language, as we all know, taken in connection with that of 
the third verse, has usually been supposed to refer to the 
doctrines and practices of the apostate Church of Borne. 

" That a partial and incipient fulfilment maybe found in 
that antichristian system, we have no intention of denying, 
but it has been proposed on sound critical grounds to read 
the passage somewhat differently: ' Now the Spirit speaketh 
expressly, that in the latter times some shall depart from 
the faith, giving heed to deceiving spirits, and teachings of 

DEMONS SPEAKING LIES OP HYPOCRISY.'* According to this 

reading, the ' giving heed to deceiving spirits,' and the 
'speaking lies in hypocrisy,' are not to be considered as 
separate counts in the indictment against these ' apostates 
of the latter times ;' but their sin consists rather in giving 
heed to 'demons speaking lies in hypocrisy.' The por- 
traiture of spiritualism seems thus to become very distinct. 
' Demons speaking lies in hypocrisy! 1 What more correct 
definition of spiritualism, taking all its declared phenomena 
for granted, could be framed? That these demons, if 
demons they be, ' speak lies ' is plain, for the gospel of 
spiritualism, as all acquainted with the subject are aware, 

* " Epiphanius, quoting the first verse, adds to. it the following 
clause : — ' For they will be worshippers of the dead, as in Israel also 
they were worshipped,' alluding to the Israelites worshipping Baalim 
and Ashtoroth. Beza and Mann contend that this addition is a part of 
the inspired original ; but Mede and Mill think it a marginal explica- 
tion, because it is found only in one ancient MS. On supposition, 
however, that it is a marginal explication, it shows what the ancients 
took to be the meaning of this text." — Macknight 's "Literal Translations 
of the Epistles" in loco. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 29 

presents a striking contrast to the gospel of Christ; and 
the apostle Paul has ruled for us, that if ' an angel from 
heaven' (and how much more a demon from hades!) 
1 preach any other gospel ' he is to be held accursed. And 
that these lies, moreover, are spoken 'in hypocrisy,' we 
may as certainly conclude, since we are told on the very 
highest authority that the demons ' believe and tremble.' 
The second of the passages referred to is Rev. xvi. 13, 14 : 
'I saw three unclean spirits like frogs come out of the 
mouth of the dragon, and out of the mouth of the beast, 
and out of the mouth of the false prophet. For they 
are demon-spirits ' {Ttvev^a-a Icajjibvuv), 'working miracles, 
which go forth unto the kings of the earth and of the whole 
world, to gather them to the battle of that great day of Grod 
Almighty.' In a former chapter we were informed that 
the beast or false prophet shall work miracles. ' He doeth 
great wonders, so that he maketh fire come down from 
heaven on the earth in the sight of men, and he deceiveth 
them that dwell on the earth by the means of those miracles 
which he had power to do in the sight of the beast ; saying 
to them that dwell on the earth, that they should make an 
image to the beast, which had the wound by a sword, and 
did live. And he had power to give life unto the image of 
the beast,' &c. (Eev. xiii. 13 — 15). And the apostle Paul, 
in his description of the c Man of Sin,' tells us that his 
1 coming is after the energy of Satan with all power and 
signs and lying wonders ' (2 Thess. ii. 9). So that not one 
passage of Scripture, but many, show us that super natural- 
ness of satanic origin will characterize the manifestation 
of the last Antichrist. The instrumentality, moreover, 
through which Grod will permit this exercise of power on 
the part of Satan is indicated in the present passage ; it 
will be by ' demon-spirits' working miracles, the object of 
its permission being to gather the kings of the earth ' to 
the battle of the great day of God Almighty.' 

"Hence, as Dr. Seiss has observed, 'this (passage) 
evidently refers to some new and strangely successful turn 
in the affairs of the kingdom of darkness. Wonders are to 
be wrought. Demons are to be the agents. The move- 
ment is to combine the elements of paganism, European 
politics, and the false religion of the Papists. Its effect 
should be to marshal the powers of the world for their 
last conflict. And it is not at all improbable that we have 



30 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

the beginning of all this in the strange, infatuating, and 
widely- spreading abomination called spieitualism.' 

" Finally, the mention of ' sorcery,' or witchcraft, in some 
other passages in the Apocalypse is worthy of notice in 
reference to this subject. Among the sins of those upon 
whom the plague of the Euphratean horsemen is inflicted 
the ' worship of demons ' is expressly mentioned (Rev. ix. 
20) ; and in the next verse we are told that they ' repented 
not of their murders, nor of their sorceries, nor of their 
fornication, nor of their thefts.' And, again, among those 
excluded from the tree of life and the holy city ' sorcerers ' 
are especially mentioned (Rev. xxii. 15). All these allu- 
sions lead to the conclusion that the last days of this 
dispensation are fated to witness a manifestation of demon 
power unparalleled in extent and character in any former 
age of the world, and of which we may even now be 
beholding the commencement in the portentous phenomena 
of spiritualism. Here we pause. In what has been said, 
we have no intention of asserting anything dogmatically. 
We simply submit these thoughts to the judgment of our 
Christian brethren, to the end that if Satan has any such 
design on hand, he may not gain an advantage over us 
because we are ignorant of his devices." — W. Maude, 
Birkenhead. 

11 In these days of rebuke, and blasphemy, and deceiv- 
ableness of all kinds, it would only betray ignorance or 
doubt of the Word of God, if we were to express any sur- 
prise at the statements and testimonies of the witnesses of 
these facts. We call them facts, for we know them to be 
facts. That a parcel of infidel journalists should sneer at 
these or any other authentic developments of the sacred 
records does not surprise us ; but that sensible and intelli- 
gent persons should be found, who pretend to believe that 
spiritual manifestations are mere conjuring tricks or the 
result of scientific manipulation, indeed perplexes us. Was 
the witch of Endor a conjuror? Was the damsel men- 
tioned in the Acts, who brought her masters much gain by 
her divination, a conjuror? Are the wonder-workers 
referred to by St. Paul, who ' shall, if possible, deceive the 
very elect,' conjurors? The very idea is preposterous! 
We have known, and we have proved, that what is called 
by the general term ' spiritualism,' is a reality and a fact, 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 31 

of which we have no more doubt than we have of the 
existence of a God. But we also know that its employ- 
ment and encouragement is strictly forbidden in God's 
Word. And we never yet met with a true Christian who 
viewed it in any other light. There may be degrees of 
guilt in its employment, but even as to this we speak with 
much diffidence. We would rather say, shun it, all you 
that fear God ; give it no countenance. If it were justifi- 
able in the slightest degree, the whole of the passages in 
the Bible that refer to it would not speak of it with such 
marked disapprobation. We hear, with much sorrow and 
the deepest concern, that our poor Queen has been beguiled 
with this delusion. We cannot contemplate the results of 
such a morbid frame of mind without trembling for the 
consequences. But we forbear. We just say to those who 
see no harm in its increasing influence over the minds of 
our fellow-countrymen, Remember, the Almighty's ' visita- 
tion for these things ' in the case of America. Again we 
say, Eemember ! " — From " The Armourer.'* 1 

"Not long since we noticed, in terms of strong con- 
demnation, a work on spiritualism, by Mr. T. P. Barkas. 
Last month we received from that gentleman two lectures 
delivered by him in Newcastle. The following extracts 
will suffice to show our readers that we read the lectures 
with much satisfaction : — 

" ' I have now arrived at the conviction that the only use 
of modern spiritual manifestations is to convince materialists 
and unbelievers of other conditions and states of being 
than this we now possess; to demonstrate to them that 
invisible beings surround and influence us ; and eventually, 
by the worthlessness and uncertainty of the communications 
made, to lead them to the source of all truth, the Almighty 
Himself, for spiritual guidance and direction. To honest, 
earnest believers in the religion of Jesus, modern spirit- 
ualism is of no value, but may prove a great curse. Its 
tendency is to degrade, rather than elevate, both mediums 
and disciples. Mediums, generally, are not high moral or 
spiritual men or women, but usually the reverse. Strong 
physical manifestations are generally, if not always, pro- 
duced through the lowest forms of mediumship, and, as I 
believe by the lowest and least developed class of spirits ; 
and my earnest recommendation to all Christian people is, 



32 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

to believe in the reality of modern spiritual phenomena, 
but to have neither part nor lot in the practices of modern 

spiritualism I believe that there is a considerable 

analogy between some of the forms of modern spiritualism 
and ancient witchcraft, sorcery, and necromancy; and 
that, except as a matter of strictly scientific investiga- 
tion, it ought to be entirely discountenanced My 

own solemn conviction is that spiritualism, as commonly 
practised, is altogether demoniacal, and that, with the ex- 
ception of leading materialists to see that there is a spiritual 
life without visible bodily form — that invisible agencies are 
everywhere around us, reading our thoughts and seeing 
our actions, and the great teachings of the Bible in relation 
to another world are, notwithstanding their previous un- 
belief in spiritual existence, true — there is no utility in the 
practice of modern spiritualism to believers in the religion 
of Jesus, and what utility there is to unbelievers is not 
designed but incidental. Spiritualism in America has 
proved a great curse ; it has relaxed the reverence which 
thousands had for the Bible ; it has led tens of thousands 
from the fountain of truth to the broken cisterns of modern 
spiritualism, which hold no water — to the consulting of 
mediums, instead of to the consulting of God — to the 
fictions of demons, instead of to the utterances of the Spirit 
of truth. 

" There is no dependence whatever to be placed on any 
of the communications which come through the instru- 
mentality of modern mediums. You may obtain doctrines 
extending from Universalism to Calvinism, and from 
Deism to Athanasianism ; you may have morals of any 
degree of laxity — free love is not everywhere condemned. 
In philosophy there is no limit to the extravagances which 
characterize the utterances of mediums. You may have 
heaven nearer than the moon, or more distant than Sirius, 
and all revelations are thoroughly worthless. As revela- 
tions, they are l a mockery, a delusion, and a snare.' 

"We have always treated spiritualism as a diabolical 
delusion, and one of the signs of these latter times. Our 
testimony is now confirmed by a witness, who has thoroughly 
investigated the subject. It is fearful to contemplate the 
prevalence of this delusion, as described by Mr. Barkas in 
the following extract : — 

" 'I need scarcely inform a Newcastle audience, who for 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 33 

years have had the subject of spiritualism prominently 
brought before them, that the phenomena of modern 
spiritualism had their origin in America, in 1846, in the 
neighbourhood of New York ; that they spread with unex- 
ampled rapidity throughout the length and breadth of the 
American Union ; that tens of thousands became mediums, 
and that about five millions became believers ; that about 
thirty newspapers devoted to the question were published 
weekly or monthly ; that upwards of one hundred works, 
some of them of a very extensive character, were issued 
from the press ; that among the retinue of believers were 
judges, ministers, senators, doctors, and literary men, many 
of them the most learned men in America ; that Abraham 
Lincoln is a spiritualist, and consults mediums ; and that 
the philosophy — if philosophy it may be called — has pene- 
trated into every nook and corner of American society. 

" ' The wave has rolled across the Atlantic, and believers 
in spiritualism may be counted by hundreds of thousands 
in all the kingdoms of Europe. There are probably half- 
a-million of believers, to a greater or lesser extent, in 
England ; there are fully that number in France and Spain ; 
it has overrun Italy and Germany ; works are published 
weekly and monthly, and many large volumes on spirit- 
ualism have now an extensive circulation in all continental 
cities. Kardac, an enthusiastic hierophant of the new 
faith, is revolutionizing France ; the Emperor Napoleon 
himself is a consulter of familiar spirits. Circles for 
spiritual manifestations are plentiful in New Zealand, 
Australia, and the uttermost parts of the earth : it rivals 
in its increase the spread of early Christian faith ; every- 
thing seems to indicate that, notwithstanding the apathy of 
the majority of men, and their determination to hold their 
eyes fast bound by prejudice, this great phenomenon, great 
blessing or great curse — time will show — spiritualism, is 
now deluging, and will yet more extensively deluge, the 
earth.' 

"Mr. Barkas concludes his lecture with the following 
counsel, which we commend to the earnest attention of 
all who may have been entangled in the spiritualist 
delusion : — ' The only hope for the spiritualist, who accepts 
the teachings of spiritualism, is again to come to the good 
old Book ; to give up all practices which it condemns — and 
it condemns necromancy and the consulting of the dead ; 



34 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

to come to the Almighty, and ask forgiveness through 
Jesus ; to cling to the teachings of the Sacred Word, which 
has stood the storms of ages, and will stand the storms of 
ages yet to come, becoming brighter after every assault, 
and leading myriads to the feet of Jesus, the only Saviour.' " 
— From " The Achill Missionary Herald." 

"The expression 'understanding dark sentences' indicates 
in a general sense Napoleon's sagacity and great intel- 
ligence, but seems to refer more specially to his skill in 
the practice of that dark and mysterious development of 
satanic power — spiritualism. One of the most noted Ameri- 
can mediums, named Hume, has frequently practised 
his magic art in presence of the Emperor. The spirits of 
deceased persons are supposed to enter into and possess 
these mediums, whose faculties of articulation they then 
make use of to speak to their earthly acquaintances. The 
spirit of Napoleon I. is reported to have often communi- 
cated in this manner with his Imperial nephew ; and it 
was probably in direct allusion to this that Louis Napoleon 
once said to the "French Senate, 'What most affects my 
heart is the thought that the spirit of the Emperor is with 
me, that his mind guides me, and his shade protects me.' 
It is evident that the spirits which speak through mediums 
and which claim to be the spirits of deceased persons, are, in 
reality, demons possessing great powers of impersonation. 
They enable the medium to imitate the voice, accent, 
gestures, and handwriting of the deceased with such 
accuracy, as completely to deceive those who have not 
learned from Scripture that this is entirely the work of 
the devil. Spiritualism is the most anti- Christian system 
that has ever yet arisen, and its most ardent followers do 
not disguise their desire to see Christianity and all its 
institutions, such as marriage and the observance of the 
Sabbath, swept out of existence. It is by the supernatural 
art of spiritualism that the false prophet will make fire 
come down out of heaven on the earth to induce men to 
worship Napoleon's image (Rev. xiii.) Gigantic prodigies 
will be wrought very soon by this latter-day manifestation 
of necromancy and witchcraft, and those will be entrapped 
who have not learned from prophecy that the infidel man 
of sin is to arise accredited by such miracles. Already 
there are speaking, writing, painting, music-performing, 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 35 

healing, and physical manifestation mediums, by whose 
diabolical sorceries more than two million persons in 
America have become more or less confirmed in infidelity. 
Those who deride the marvels of spiritualism, and regard 
them only as displays of legerdemain or sleight of hand, 
manifest exceeding blindness and ignorance. Its miracu- 
lous operations were plainly predicted to characterize the 
period immediately preceding the Second Advent (2 Thess. 
ii. 9 — 12; Rev. xvi. 13, 14)." — From " Louis Napoleon, the 
Destined Monarch of the World," by the Rev. M. Baxter. 

SPIRITUALISM PROPHETICALLY CONSIDERED. 

I 'In continuing our remarks on the subject of spiritual- 
ism, we desire briefly to draw the reader's attention to 
certain admissions made by its advocates, and to certain 
inferences which may be legitimately drawn from its 
declared character, in so far as these tend to throw light 
upon its prophetic aspect. The great and increasing 
interest felt in the subject generally may be inferred from 
the fact that in his inaugural address to the Social Science 
Congress recently held at York, Lord Brougham deemed 
it of sufficient importance to call for the following weighty 
remarks. Having alluded to the wide-spread infidelity of 
the day, and the restless efforts of its propagators, his 
lordship observed : — ' It is strange to find that while a 
body directing these are actually distributing tracts, con- 
ducting a periodical work, and holding meetings for debate, 
both in the southern counties and even as far north as 
Edinburgh, there should be found at the same time pro- 
pagators of spiritual visions, in which, as extremes often- 
times meet, those are prone to believe who have faith in 
nothing else. Although some of the most zealous of those 
subject to these delusions fancy that true religion gains by 
them as affording proofs of another world's existence, it is 
certain that the bulk of those who believe in spiritualism, 
in communications from remote regions of the earth, and 
even from beyond the grave, are utter disbelievers in all 
religion natural and revealed, unhappy persons in whom 
the works of the Creator which surround them fail to raise 
a thought of the Almighty power, wisdom, and goodness, 
and to whom the revealed will of God is addressed in 
vain.' 

II l To whom the revealed will of God is addressed in vain.'' 

d 2 



36 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Let us mark these words, for they are, we think, as im- 
portant as they are true. The common line of argument 
— we might say the only one — adopted by the advocates of 
what is now called, by way of distinction, ' Christian 
Spiritualism,' is, that it is calculated to convince the un- 
believer, and in point of fact has done so in many instances, 
of the existence of a future state of existence for man. 
This is the ground of defence taken up by a gentleman of 
some literary eminence, Mr. S. C. Hall, in a letter written 
by him on the 'Use of Spiritualism,' and ' printed for 
private circulation.'' 'I believe,' says Mr. Hall, 'that as 
it now exists, it (spiritualism) has mainly but one purpose 

TO CONFUTE AND DESTROY MATERIALISM, by Supplying 

sure, and certain, and palpable evidence that to every 
human being God gives a soul, which He ordains shall not 
perish when the body dies.' But granting, for the sake 
of argument, that spiritualism does indeed supply such 
evidence, and putting aside the fact that, in most cases at 
least, the evidence itself, and consequently the conviction 
induced, is of a somewhat dubious character, the grand 
question remains to be considered — what is the soul-value of 
this conviction f In other words, what is a man the better 
for believing that there is a future state, if his belief extends 
no further, or if it be coupled with intimations which, 
effectually neutralize its moral influence ? Does spiritualism 
afford any evidence that the future state which it professes 
to reveal to us is one of moral retribution ? Does it tend 
to deepen our sense of the evil of sin and the necessity of 
holiness ? These questions are suggested, and, thank God, 
they are infer entially answered, by a most solemn parable 
which is recorded for our instruction in the 16th chapter 
of St. Luke's Gospel. In that parable we read of a certain 
rich man, who, finding himself after death in a state of 
most grievous suffering, of which all alleviation was de- 
clared impossible, urges the following remarkable petition: 
'Then he said, I pray thee therefore, father, that thou 
wouldesl soul him to my father's house: for I have five 
brethren; that he may testify unto them, lest they also 
come to this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, 
They have Moses and the prophets; let them hear them. 
And lie said, Nay, lather Abraham : but if one went unto 
iheni from the dead, they will repent.' Mark! l If one 
went unto them from the dead' — in other words, if the very 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER, SIGNS. 37 

selfsame evidence be afforded them which spiritualism pro- 
fesses to afford — ' they ivill repent.'' Such is the argument 
of this lost and miserable soul ; and surely we must hear 
it with a strange and wondering pity. ' Because one 
has come unto them from the dead, they do repent.' Such 
is the assertion — using the very argument of this lost soul 
— of modern spiritualists ! But what says the answer of 
God by Abraham ? — for it is the answer to both alike : — 
'And he said unto him, If they hear not Hoses and the 
prophets, neither will they be persuaded, though one rose from 
the dead ' (Luke xvi. 27 — 31). Of what would they not be 
persuaded? Not surely that one had been sent to them 
from the dead ; of that men are easily enough persuaded ; 
but persuaded to amend their lives, and to adopt the only 
effectual means — because the only means of God's appoint- 
ment — of escaping the awful doom of their miserable 
brother.* God's word, then, most explicitly declares that 
the appearance — nay, more, the actual bodily resurrection — 
coupled with the most solemn warnings of one from the 
dead, would be utterly ineffectual to turn a sinner from 
darkness to light, and from the power of Satan unto God. 
Spiritualism asserts the direct contrary, and on this contra- 
diction of the plain declaration of God's inspired word, it bases 
its only claim on our confidence, and the vindication of its own 
character. 

"'The true mission of spiritualism,' says William 
Howitt, ' and it is a great and magnificent mission, is 
to recall to the knowledge, and restore to the consciousness 



* " Inasmuch as we all have assurance enough in the "Word concerning 
the condition of the dead (though not specific charts of their domains, 
or answers which might gratify curiosity as to how they may employ 
their tongues and fingers there), nothing more copious or precise would 
ay ail to supply the deficiency of man's repentance. It may, indeed, 
appear to he otherwise in the case of some of our own times, for whom 
magnetism and spiritual noises may appear to have paved the way to 
faith ; but that could have been only a corroboration of the Word, in 
which they were not altogether disbelievers, and Abraham's precise and 
solemn utterance remains unaffected in its simple truth. Did Saul 
repent when Samuel, coming to him from the dead, preached to him the 
same truth which he had preached to him when living ? Have all, or 
indeed many, of those believed, who have verily persuaded themselves 
that they have seen such apparitions ? "What avails, then, ' second 
sight' to those dissolute men of shattered nerves, to whom ordinarily 
such things occur?" — Stier, " Words of the Lord Jesus,'" in loco. 



38 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGXS. 

of mankind, the Christian faith, with all its divine and 
supernatural power.' 

" * As to the " use " of spiritualism,' observes S. C. Hall, 
1 it has made me a Christian : I humbly and fervently 
thank God it has removed all my doubts ! ' 

" ' I could,' he adds, 'quote abundant instances of conver- 
sion to belief from unbelief — of some to perfect faith from 
total infidelity. I am permitted to give one name — it is 
that of Dr. Elliotson (a name well known throughout 
Europe), who, in a letter to the Rev. Dr. Knatchbull (an 
earnest advocate of spiritualism), thus writes: ''You ask 
me if I believe in spiritualism ? I believe all that you, as 
a Christian minister, believe, and perhaps more." The 
now abjured opinions of Dr. Elliotson, as recorded in his 
writings, do not demand comment ; he expresses his deep 
gratitude to Almighty God for the blessed change that 
has been wrought in his heart and mind by spiritualism.' 

" Here, then, the issue is fairly joined. Which are we to 
believe — the Word of God or the word of man ? To the 
Bible Christian at least the alternative, though painful, is 
not difficult. ' To the law and to the testimony ; if they 
speak not according to this word, it is because there is no 
light in them' (Isa. viii. 20). 

"But we must proceed to consider the more precise sub- 
ject of these remarks. In the former paper we directed 
the reader's attention to a most significant passage in St. 
Paul's first Epistle to Timothy, in which the apostle, 
among other marks of the apostasy of the last days, mentions 
expressly the 'giving heed to deceiving spirits, and teachings of 
demon*, speaking lies in hgpocrisg. 1 (1 Tim. iv. 1, 2). And 
we then expressed our conviction, which we now repeat, 
that if spiritualism be all that it assumes to be, we have 
in these words its portrait drawn by the pen of inspiration. 
The inquiry is, however, naturally suggested — What was 
the nature and character of the 'demons' so frequently 
mentioned in the New Testament ? And what reason have 
we for concluding that the ' spirits,' if such indeed they be, 
concern, id in the production of the phenomena of modern 
spirit iialism belong to the same class ? Now there are two 
Greek words '& Ata/3o\oc and Sat/ioviov) used in the New 
Testament, both of which, as is much to be regretted, have 
been rendered by our English translators, 'devil.' There 
however, only one devil (6 Aiaj3o\oc) mentioned in 



SPIRITUALISM AXD OTHER SIGNS. 39 

Scripture, while there are legions of demons (Saipovta).* 
What, then, is the nature and character of the latter? 
Usually it seems to be supposed that demons are the same 
beings as 'the angels which kept not their first estate.' This 
is a very natural inference from the erroneous translation of 
the original word by ' devil ' but it has really no founda- 
tion in Scripture. Demons are referred to about eighty 
times in the New Testament, and are even spoken of as of 
different classes, but they are never mentioned in a way to 
show that they are to be identified with the fallen angels. 
They are never assigned a celestial origin. They are never 
referred to except in connection with our world. The devil 
is never called a demon. The word demon, in its commonest 
and best understood meaning, denotes the spirit of a dead 
man, particularly the spirit of a wicked dead man. With a few 
exceptions, this appears to be its import in the heathen, 
the Jewish, and the early Christian writers. That the 
Pharisees in the Saviour's time so understood it, there can 
be but little doubt. Josephus says, 'Demons are no other 
than the spirits of the wicked, that enter into men.'' Philo 
says, ' The souls of the dead are called demons? Justin 
Martyr, Tertullian, Irenseus, Origen, and Augustine have 
spoken to the same effect. Dr. Appleton affirms that this 
is the sense in which the word was commonly used. Jahn 
refers to numerous authors who have maintained by a 
multitude of quotations from Greek, Roman, and Jewish 
writers, that ' the demons are the spirits of dead men, who 
have died a violent death, particularly of such as were 
known to have sustained bad characters while living.' If 
Jesus, the apostles, and the New Testament writers, then, 
meant to be understood by those to whom they spoke and 
wrote, they could hardly have used the word demons in any 
other sense than that attached to it by their contemporaries. 
There is but one shade of difference between the heathen 



* "In the ancient Syriac version," says Professor Campbell, in his 
learned Dissertation, " these names are always duly distinguished. The 
words employed in translating one of them are never used in rendering 
the other ; and in all the Latin translations I have seen, ancient and 
modern, Popish and Protestant, this distinction is carefully observed. 
It is observed also in Diodati's Italian version and most of the late 
French versions. But in Luther's German, the Geneva, French, and 
the common English, the words are confounded." — Campbell on the 
Gospels. 



40 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

and the scriptural use of the word. Thp Greeks sometimes 
applied it to what they considered good spirits ; thus Plato 
says, ' When good men die, they obtain honour and be- 
come demons ; ' and according to Hesiod, when the men of 
the golden age died and became demons, the change was 
deemed an 'honourable promotion.' The Scriptures, how- 
ever, seem to confine the designation to evil beings ; such 
being the character, we have good reason to believe, of the 
spirits next behind the veil which divides the material 
from the spiritual world. We are disposed, therefore, to 
agree with an able scholar, that ' all scriptural allusions to 
this subject authorize the conclusion that demons are the 
spirits, and especially the wicked and unclean spirits, of dead 
men.'' And these we think, moreover, are in all probability 
the same class of evil agents described by St. Paul as ' the 
wicked spirits in the aerial regions (wpoQ ra ^vey/iaTtica ttjq 
7royt)piag kv to~iq e7rovpavioic) (Eph. vi. 12). They are, at all 
events, a class of beings of depraved and mischievous 
character, belonging to the Satanic kingdom. They have 
their abode in our atmospheric regions, and hence Satan is 
called ' the prince of the power of the air ' (Eph. ii. 2).* 
They wander, like their dread master, ' to and fro in the 
earth ' (Job i. 7). The enter into close relations with men, 
and constitute, perhaps, the most efficient ' mediums ' for 
the accomplishment of Satan's infamous designs against 
the peace and happiness of our race. 

" Another form of evil wrought by the agency of demons 
is the corruption, deception, and infatuation of men by a 
forbidden and unnatural intercourse with them. ' Some 
think such communications mere pretence. But the plain 
testimony of the Scriptures, and well-authenticated pheno- 
mena of ancient and modern times, f leads to the conclusion 
that men may communicate with demons, and by them do 

* ""We live,"* says Auberlen, "in an atmosphere poisonous and im- 
pregnated with deadly elements. But a mighty purification of the air 
will be effected by Christ's coming." '"The power' is here used col- 
led iwly for the ' powers of the air ?' in apposition with which 'powers' 
stand the ' spirits,' comprehended (also) in the singular; the aggregate 
of the 'seducing spirits' (] Tim. iv. 1) which work now (still; not 
merely, as in your case, ' in time past ') m the sons of disobedience." — 
m /. 

f "No O&e, with any insi-ht into the awful mystery of the false 
worships of the world, but will believe that these symptoms were the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 41 

many supernatural things. What do the Holy Scriptures 
mean when they speak of consulters with familiar spirits, 
enchanters, witches, wizards, magicians, soothsayers, and 
necromancers ? What is a consulter with familiar sj>irits 
but one who seeks information from a demon with whom 
he is in compact, and who attends at call ? What is an 
enchanter but a person who practises incantation, calls up 
spirits by magic formularies, and brings into action the 
power of demons ? What is a witch or wizard but a woman 
or man who practises divination by the aid of evil spirits, 
or does supernatural things by the " inediumship " of 
demons ? What is a magician but one who experiments in 
the same black arts, a sorcerer, a diviner, an enchanter? 
What is a soothsayer but a demoniacal prophet, who fore- 
tells events, or undertakes to guide by divination, and by 
the ''impressions" derived from some foul afflatus pro- 
duced by the invocation of spiritual agencies ? And what 
is a necromancer but a consulter of the dead — one who 
reveals secrets by the assistance of the departed — one who 
resorts to demons for aid and information ? It is useless 
to say that these were all false pretenders, and that all 
ascribed to them was mere trickery and deceit. The Bible 
says, in so many words, that the four hundred lying 
prophets whom Ahab followed to his ruin were really 
inspired by wicked spiritual beings. The changing of 
rods into serpents, water into blood, and the bringing up 
of frogs over the land of Egypt by the sorcerers and 
magicians who withstood Moses, were not delusions of the 
senses, but realities, so given in the holy record. And all 
the expressions which the Bible contains on the subject 
proceed upon the assumption that this intercourse with, and 
aid from, demons, is something more than imaginary. 
When we read of a man consulting familiar spirits, it is 
necessarily implied that spirits may be consulted. The 
case of Saul and the witch of Endor clearly shows that the 
alleged communication with the dead was regarded as a 
substantial fact. And from the thunders and smoke of 
Sinai, Jehovah said, "Thou shalt not suffer a witch to 



evidence and expression of an actual connection in which these persons 
(i.e., seers, pythonesses, and the like) stood to a spiritual world— a 
spiritual world, indeed, which was not above them, but beneath." — 
Archbishop Trench, "Synonyms of the New Testament," Part I. p. 43. 



42 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

live." " A man or woman that hath" — not in pretence, 
bnt reality — "hath a familiar spirit, or that is a wizard, 
shall surely be put to death." Here was a statute given 
by the great King Himself ; and has God legislated against 
a nonenity?'* When, therefore, modern spiritualists do 
avowedly hold communion with the dead, receiving mes- 
sages from and being powerfully influenced by them, they 
virtually acknowledge themselves to be ' giving heed to the 
teachings of demons ; ' or, in other words, to be practisers 
of that necromancy which the Word of God so emphatically 
condemns. 

" But, as it has been well said, ' they are twice overcome 
who are beaten with their own weapons,' we shall here 
adduce some remarkable admissions as to the identity of 
modern spiritualism and the demonology mentioned in 
Scripture. 

"Mr. Howitt, speaking of our Lord's transfiguration, 
says, 'The Lord of life, who was about to become the 
Prince of the spirits of the dead, broke the Imo prohibiting the 
intercourse with the spirits of the dead, and in no other pre- 
sence than that of the promulgator of that law, who had 
long been a spirit of the dead, and at the same time in the 
presence of those selected by Christ to teach this great act to 
posterity. And, the disciples, admitted to a convocation 
which would have brought the penalty of death on their 
ancestors, found it so good for them, that they desired to 
build tabernacles, and remain with those illustrious dead.' 

"Mr. Brevior says: — 'Those who question or deny the 
lawfulness of spirit-communion on grounds deduced from 
Scripture, rest their objections mainly on the prohibitions 
in the Mosaic code. But surely it is by no means self-evident 
that we are now under these prohibitions, that they apply to us 
and to all time.'' 

"Mrs. Newton Crosland says: — 'The history of Saul 
stands out with singular consistency and distinctnesss by 
the light which a spirit message throws upon it. These 
words were spelt out in my own house: — "Said was a 
medium, but he offended God by consulting undeveloped 
spirits." ' (Was Samuel the prophet an ' undeveloped 
spirit ? ' ) 

" The writer of an Apology for Spiritualism in the ' English- 

* Dr. Seiss, "The Wonderful Confederation." A truly admirable 
discourse. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 43 

woman's Domestic Magazine'' says : — ' The very titles of the 
art and its professors have been altered : what was necro- 
mancy is noiv spiritualism ; and the presiding high priest or 
priestess of the mysteries is no longer called witch when 
of the feminine gender, and wizard when of the masculine, 
but both are now styled in common by a less expressive 
appellation — that of medium.' 

" Andrew Jackson Davis, the high priest of American 
demonolatry, says : — ' The time is past when these new 
things (spiritual manifestations) would have been igno- 
rantly termed demonism, necromancy, and witchcraft.' 

" Governor Tallmadge saj'S : — ' AIL the magic, the myste- 
ries, the witchcraft, and necromancy of the ancient world, 
from the time of the Delphic oracle, are explained by the 
modern manifestations.' 

" Judge Edmonds says : — 'The history of Salem witch- 
craft is but an account of spiritual manifestations, and of 
man's incapacity to understand them.' 

" Charles Partridge says of the witch of Endor : — ' Call 
her witch, or what you will, she was a medium for the spirits.' 

" Professor S. B. Brittain says : — ' Simon Magus ivas, of all 
men, prince among the workers oe spiritual miracles.' 

" So much for spiritualism as a ' giving heed to teachings 
of demons ; ' but there is another count in the divine in- 
dictment, or rather the charge is more comprehensive, for 
it is added, ' speaking lies in hypocrisy.' All who are at 
all acquainted with the writings of spiritualists know that 
these alleged spirits generally claim to be good and holy 
spirits — the spirits of pious friends and noted saints. Thus, 
for instance, Mr. S. C. Hall, in his letter before quoted, 
says: — 'Honoured and revered be the memory of the 
good woman (her life in this sphere was continual prepa- 
ration for life in another), who, when she left earth, was 
mercifully permitted to continue her influence, to give me 
counsel, to bring me "messages," to humble my heart, 
and lead me to a knowledge cf my Saviour — a work she 
had laboured, while in the flesh, to accomplish, in vain. 
"We have had evidence of her presence with us, since her 
" removal," as clear, certain, and conclusive, as we had 
when she was "sitting in the body" by our side.' We 
have met this argument on scriptural grounds already ; but 
we would here add a few more important ' admissions ' by 
spiritualists and ' spirits.' Mr. Laroy Sunderland, a well- 



44 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

known spiritualist writer and lecturer in America, in a work 
entitled ' The Book of Human Nature,' makes the following 
statement : — ' Now as to the question, Are spirits reliable ? 
I answer Yes ; they are reliable for teaching and demon- 
strating THE EXISTENCE OF THE SPIRITUAL WORLD. If 

you make the inquiry still more specific, and ask whether 
the " communications " indiscriminately made by spirits to 
mortals are always reliable, and to be taken for what they 
purport to be, I answer. No I ' * 

' ' Mr. Gr. "W". Stone, in his book on ' Spiritual Mani- 
festations,' says: — 'I conclude for myself that implicit 
confidence cannot be placed in the so-called spirit responses 
and communications as always coming from departed 
spirits. The medium, or some powerful mind or minds 
present, may overrule, warp, twist or colour the answers 

and sentences spelt out There is a mysterious 

agency from the spiritual world which cannot be completely 
overruled. Nevertheless, it is so often and so far controlled 
as to be ' decidedly unreliable? f Dr. Nichols, in his recently 
published * Forty Years of American Life,' which contains 
an important chapter on spiritualism in that country, tells 
us : — * These pretended spirits often lie. Messages are re- 
ceived purporting to come from departed persons, and 
giving the particulars of their decease, who prove, on in- 
quiry, to be still alive. I have known this in several 
instances. Of course this does not disprove a communi- 
cating intelligence If we admit the physical 

phenomena of spiritualism, and concede that communi- 
cations or revelations are really made by beings ordinarily 
invisible to us mortals, we are still surrounded with diffi- 
culties. What assurance can we have in any case of the identity 
of a spirit ? A bad or mischievous spirit may, for aught we 
know, personate our friends, penetrate our secrets, and deceive 
us with false communications. Where is the proof of 
identity ? 'J 

11 But more than this, the f spirits ' themselves have made 
the same confession of * speaking lies in hypocrisy.' The 
following remarkable instance is given by Dr. Seiss : — 
' They affirm (♦.*., the spirits) that intercourse with them 
will make men happier and better ; that they are blessed 

* Quoted by (lie Rev. E. Nangle, "Spiritualism Fairly Tried," p. 43. 

f Page 63. 

X "Forty rears of American Life," vol. ii., pp. 63, 64. 



SP [RITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 45 

in the spirit-world; that there is no resurrection of the 
dead, no future punishment, no day of judgment.' So 
these demons generally teach; and so one declared to 
William B. Laning, of Trenton, New Jersey, in 1853, 
through a writing medium. But he cross-questioned the 
spirit, and demanded of it, ' in the name of the Lord,' to 
answer his questions truly ; and, though professing to be 
happy, it at once began to quail. Mr. Laning then asked : — 

" 'In the name of the Lord, is the Bible true? Answer 
— Yes. The Bible forbids necromancy and the consulting 
of familiar spirits ; which shall I believe, you or the Bible ? 
Answer — The Bible. Why then did you tell me that it was 
right and useful to consult the spirits ? Answer — Because I 
wished to deceive you. What is the business of these spirits 
with men ? Answer — It is to deceive. Are you happy ? 
Answer — No ; I am miserable. Are you in hell ? Answer 
— Not yet. Do you expect to go there? Answer — Yes. 
When? Answer — At the day of judgment. Is there a 
day of judgment ? Answer — Yes. Is there to be a resur- 
rection of the dead ? Answer — Yes. Have you any prospect 
of happiness? Answer — I have no hope. In the name of the 
Lord, is there a good spirit — the spirit of a departed Christian 
— among all these rapping and writing spirits ? Answer — 
No, not one. Where are the spirits of departed Christians ? 
Answer — The Lord has taken them ! ' 

" ' This,' adds Dr. Seiss, ' is given as an authentic account 
of an actual occurrence. I have myself seen a manuscript 
letter from Mr. Laning, vouching for the truth of it, and 
of other like instances. The Rev. W. E. Giordan, of New 
York, affirms that he challenged one of these spirits in the 
name of the Lord Jesus to answer whether he was not a 
demon; to which the reply was in the affirmative. He 
asked further, Are all the communications of spiritualism 
from personating demons? Answer — Yes.' 

" Somewhat similar confessions are given by Mr. Nangle, 
Mr. Godfrey, and others. 

" All this is sufficiently startling ; but the crucial test of 
spiritualism, as of every false system, remains to be applied. 
The Master has said : l By their fruits ye shall know 
them' (Matt. vii. 20). Christianity can bear this test, the 
Bible can bear it, but no system of falsehood that the world 
has ever seen could endure it. How does spiritualism, on the 
whole — an isolated case is no fair criterion — bear it ? Listen 



46 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

to the testimony, not of an opponent, but of an impartial 
observer. Dr. Nichols says, speaking of its results in 
America, ' There can be no question about the marked 
effect of spiritualism upon American thought, feeling, and 
character. Nothing within my memory has had so great 
an influence. It has broken up hundreds of churches : it 
has changed the religious belief of hundreds of thousands ; 
it has influenced, more or less, the most important actions 
and relations of vast multitudes. Immense numbers of 
those who, a few years ago, professed a belief in some form 
of Christianity, or were members of religious organizations, 
have, under the influence of spiritualism, modified or re- 
nounced such beliefs. Greater numbers, perhaps, who 
doubted or denied a future state, have found, as they think, 
in the phenomena of spiritualism, incontrovertible proofs of 

its reality The reader may make his own estimate of 

the value of this conviction 

il ' There can be as little doubt that spiritualism has either 
produced or developed a tendency to insanity in a great 
number of instances. I think no careful observer can 
mingle with considerable numbers of spiritualists, without 
noticing symptoms of insanity. There is no portion of the 
world so subject to insanity as New England and the 
Northern States, which it has mainly peopled. . . . 

"'The influence of spiritualism upon morality is not 
very easy to estimate. It is claimed that the influence and 
admonitions of spirits and the belief in immortality have 
reformed many drunkards and profligates. On the other 
hand, it is known that numbers of spiritualists have taught 
and acted upon ideas of the largest liberty in social re- 
lations. They have adopted individualistic and ' free-love ' 
doctrines. Husbands have abandoned wives, and wives 
husbands, to find more congenial partners, or those for 
whom they had stronger spiritual affinities. All spiritual- 
ists, it is true, do not accept the free-love doctrines ; but it 
is also true that some of the most noted spiritualistic 
mediums, speakers, and writers have both taught and 
practised them, and that they have had numerous fol- 
lowers, to the great scandal and disgust of those who hold 
to old fashioned morality.' 

"Listen again to iMr. John F. Whitney, of New York, 
himself for two years a devoted and prominent spiritual- 
ist : — ' We have Been the gradual progress it (intercourse 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 47 

with spirits) makes with its believers, particularly its 
mediums, from lives of morality to those of sensuality 
and immorality, gradually and cautiously undermining the 
foundation of good principles, till we look back with amaze- 
ment at the radical changes which a few months will bring 
about in individuals ; for its tendencies are to approve and 
endorse each individual act and character, however good or 
bad those acts may be. If an individual be an adulterer or 
an adulteress, approval of their course is given from the 
spirit, purporting, perhaps, to be the spirit of a loving, 
devoted father, who in this world would have gone to his 
grave in wretchedness to have known that his child could 
have so erred.' 

" Listen once more to Dr. Seiss : — ' It (spiritualism) has 
denied the authority of the Holy Bible, which is man's 
only light amid earth's darkness, and which in the face of 
the scepticism and scrutiny of a thousand generations, has 
maintained its claim to be the inspired word of the eternal 
Grod. It has repudiated the Deity, Messiahship, and me- 
diatorial work of the Lord Jesus Christ, who is the only 
way to eternal life and blessedness. It has shown itself 
uncompromisingly inimical to the teachers of pure morality 
and scriptural religion. It has its chief support among 
men and women of questionable morals and of loose and 
sceptical principles. It has furnished sneers and accusa- 
tions against the statements of inspiration, and the system 
of salvation therein revealed, the most malignant and 
blasphemous that have ever been uttered. It has not 
hesitated to give the glory of the Everlasting One to devils. 
I have a book of songs, professedly prepared by the spirits 
to be sung in the circles, which is wholly made up of 
metrical praises of intercourse with the dead, and solemn 
invocations of the departed — a liturgy of mere demon-worship' 

"Yiewed in the light of the evidence we have now 
adduced, and it might be largely increased, how awfully 
applicable to modern spiritualism do the Apostle's words 
become : ' Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the 
latter times some shall apostatize from the faith, giving 
heed to deceiving spirits, and teachings of demons, speak- 
ing lies in hypocrisy ; having their conscience seared with 
a hot iron.' Surely we may recognize in them the finger 
of God pointing silently, through the mist of ages, to one 
of the dark signs of the end even now looming before us. 



48 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

And let us remember that we have not yet seen the full develop- 
ment of this mystery of iniquity. Mesmerism has merged 
into clairvoyance, clairvoyance has given place to spiritual- 
ism ; what is to follow ? Can we doubt that the man who is 
giving heed to these deceiving demons, will be the most 
ready to bow the knee before that lawless one 'whose 
coming is after the energy of Satan, with all power, and 
signs, and lying wonders V (2 Thess. ii. 9). And is he not at 
hand ? Yes, it is our solemn conviction that the world is 
preparing for Antichrist. 'Evil men and seducers wax 
worse and worse, deceiving and being deceived ;' ' a form 
of godliness,' and at the same time a denial of the power 
thereof, meets us on every side ; the taunt of the scoffer, 
' Where is the promise of His coming ? ' is in our ears ; the 
cross of the Redeemer is becoming the standard of a flying 
camp. But this is our confidence and our hope — the King 
is coming. And when His starlike banner shall gleam in 
the van, and His battle-shout shall rally the fainting host, 
the tide of battle shall be turned, the army of the aliens 
shall be put to flight, the enemies of the Lord shall con- 
sume like the fat of rams, Satan shall be bound in chains 
of darkness and consigned to the prison of the pit, and, 
amid the glad alleluias of an emancipated world, Jesus 
shall take unto Him His great power and reign." — By 
W. Maude, Esq., Birhenliead. 

4 

" Dear Sir, — As among your protests against the various 
errors of these last days you have lifted up your voice 
in opposition to spiritualism, alias necromancy, I have no 
doubt you will gladly insert the following proof of the 
pernicious character of that 'black art.' The well-known 
writer William Howitt may fairly be called the high priest 
of spiritualism in England, and the effect of this on a 
mind so able and cultivated as his may be well taken as a 
criterion of its influence on less critical converts. In an 
article entitled 'What Spiritualism has Taught,' in the 
April number of the ' Spiritual Magazine,' this clever writer 
pours forth what, I am sure, you, your readers, and Chris- 
tians would regard as a torrent of envenomed blasphemy, 
dashing its headlong course from necromantic sources and 
heights against the rocks of orthodoxy. Take the following 
extracts in proof of this charge: — 

'' 'All souls, according to the Protestant faith, pass at 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 49 

once to heaven or to hell .... By this arbitrary extinction 
of some of the loveliest regions of creation .... Grod's whole 
being was blackened, and every one of His eternal attri- 
butes dislocated and driven pell-mell into the limbo of 
atheism. I say atheism, for such a Grod could not possibly 
exist as this Protestant theory would have made Him ; a Grod 
with less justice than the most stupid country squire ever 
established in the chair of magistracy, with less mercy than 
an inquisitor or a torturer with red-hot pincers and iron 
boots. These atrocities were but the work of moments, 
but this system made the Grod of love and the Father of 
Jesus Christ sitting in endless bliss amid a favoured few, 
whilst below were incaculable populations suffering the 
tortures of fires which no period, even of millions of years, 
should extinguish; and that without any profanation 
whatever in the offences of the sufferers. All who were 
not the " spirits of just men made perfect" were, according 
to this doctrine, only admissible to this common hall, this 
common receptacle of the middling bad, and the most 
bedevilled of devils. Never could any such monstrous, 
foul, and detestable doctrine issue from any source but that 
of the hearts of fiends themselves.' 

"In other words, the doctrine of the punishment of the 
lost, according to Mr. Howitt, is ' a doctrine of devils,' but 
according to Christians it is a doctrine of Christ and His 
apostles. Again : ' But the lovers of eternal torments for 
their brethren, whom they are commanded to love as them- 
selves, immediately cry out, "Take away eternal damna- 
tion and you take away all fear of sinning.' 

" This is not true, Mr. Howitt, and you are a calumni- 
ator for calling those who hold the doctrine you denounce 
' lovers of eternal torments for their brethren.' 

"Again: 'The spirits, without exception, deny the 
Moloch doctrine of eternal damnation.' Mr. Howitt's 
misquotations and misrepresentations of Scripture I have 
observed in several of his writings. For example, in the 
article before us : ' This was precisely the doctrine of St. 
Paul, that everything here on earth is made after the 
pattern in the heavens, that we have, only more perfect, 
and being only made after their patterns and of inferior or 
only physical materials.' This is very bad. "What Paul 
' precisely declares ' is no such thing ; he is speaking 
exclusively of the pattern of the tabernacle, and not of 



50 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

' everything that we liave on earth.' Is not this ' a doctrine 
of devils, speaking lies in hypocrisy ' ? Again : ' If anything 
be the plain end of Christ's coming, it is this glorious result 
— it is declared that Christ came to restore all things.' 
Where? But enough. I recommend your readers to 
peruse the entire article, than which I have seldom read a 
more bitter or more erroneous production ; and when we 
consider that the animus displayed and the views taught are 
held forth as the genuine fruit of spiritualism, we need no 
further proof that this new religion is the last-born of the- 
father of lies. 

" I am, my dear Sir,. 

" Yours faithfully r 

"Arthur A. Bees."" 
—From "Tie Rainbow," 1865. 



Since copying the last quotation , the author has 
become acquainted with still further advances made by 
the spirits, which are important for publication. A lady 
living |t few miles out of Brighton is now asserting 
(not only her power with the spirits, in common with 
all spiritualists, but) that she can and does pass out of 
her body and go to Scotland or elsewhere, leaving her 
body at home. She says that she (or her spirit) passes 
through walls, doors, &c, without the slightest diffi- 
culty ; that she ascends into the spirit world above, has 
close communion with Jesus Christ and with those who 
are gone there. She can call at her bidding any one 
with whom she wishes intercourse. She and a few other 
ladies of the same class can tell yon that they take the 
sacrament together at stated times, and (what will now 
follow is too solemn to publish, were it not done to 
convince others, if possible, of the signs of the times) 
when this lady and her friends meet to take the sacra- 
ment, they affirm that the Lord Jesus Himself, in person, 
and seen by them, Joins them, bringing grapes, and placing 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 51 

them on the table, round which they are sitting, and 
then all partake of the grapes together. 

After this, one reference will suffice. When the Lord 
Jesus was here on earth, He distinctly told His dis- 
ciples the reverse of this most appalling statement. 
Matt. xxvi. 29 : " But I say unto you, I will not drink 
henceforth of this fruit of the vine, until that day when 
I drink it new with you in my Father's kingdom." 
"We may now assume that what is written for our learn- 
ing was purposely spoken by our Lord to shield His 
people from those, who, " if it were possible, would de- 
ceive the very elect." 

It is worthy of notice that this lady tells you that 
her knowledge of the Greek language is so superior to 
that of other Greek scholars, that, therefore, the Scrip- 
tures reveal to her what is not understood by or 
revealed to others. One instance of this superior 
learning will suffice. She asserts that the Bible no- 
where speaks of hell, or in any way teaches us to 
believe that there is a place of everlasting misery, for 
ever separated from God, 



e 2 



ROMANISM. 



"Who is on the Lord's side?" When we see our 
enemy, and hear the sound of alarm, we know that 
danger is at hand, and that it is not a time to lie down 
to sleep, thus placing ourselves in a position of 
ignorance of whatever may be passing around us, or 
even within our doors. How can we then account for 
all this supineness, incredulity, willing deafness, and 
blindness in Christians, while Popery is not only 
secretly undermining our nation, but shamelessly 
erecting its head in our midst. Jesuits are being 
inveigled into Protestant houses under false pretences, 
to exert a secret influence on others, and to obtain 
information for their Church. Plardened, vile nuns, 
with their wily insinuations, are gaining admittance 
into the drawing- rooms of High Church ladies 
to strengthen their principles, and to draw out 
their sympathies, to assist them in relieving " the 
destitute poor of all denominations, quite irrespec- 
tive of religion!" "Borne, on the other hand, 
setting as usual the lessons of the Bible at defiance, 
and studying how she may turn the worst propensities 
of human nature to her own account, has filled every 
country to which her influence has extended, with 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 53 

crowds of lazy and dirty monks, and swarms of rapa- 
cious nuns, eating up the fruits of honest industry, and 
that, too, upon the flimsy pretence of removing that 
very pauperism of which they are the principal cause. 
The Reformation swept all this out of Britain ; but 
with the advent of Borne, it has begun again in right 
earnest. The nuns go first, as likely to excite less 
opposition, but the monks will follow. These nuns 
profess to go from door to door, in the words of 
their own organ, ' to beg for the poor the crumbs which 
fall from the rich man's table, and to live on what re- 
mains when their poor inmates are supplied ;' and they 
do this work ' in the name of Grod and of the poor.' The 
spirit and feelings of the people of this country since 
the Reformation are opposed to all secret combinations, 
so much in vogue in the Church of Rome, although 
nothing in Popish lands has served the Church of Rome 
so effectually as these sisterhoods. To permit and en- 
courage the members of such orders to perambulate our 
streets in the habit of their order, and to beg from 
door to door, and to enter our homes, is effectually 
paving the way for an open recognition of them and of 
the system of political and religious slavery, whose 
pioneers they are. This will be followed universally by 
demands, which have already been made to some paro- 
chial boards, that they shall receive grants from the 
local funds, to assist them in sustaining their institu- 
tions. These, again, if granted, will end in raising 
such institutions to an equality with our poor-houses, if 
they do not supersede them. Moreover, it is folly to 
believe that these nuns live solely upon the mere 
crumbs which their inmates, if they have any, may 
leave. This is contrary to all the lengthened experience 



54 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

of such sisterhoods, and is opposed to fact, as can be 
easily proved during the short time these begging nuns 
have established themselves more recently in Britain. 
They live on the very best that they can get, or the 
land can produce. The contrary idea is the fruit of 
incredulity, and gives the lie to all history. The 
emissaries of the infallible Church have not so com- 
pletely changed their designs and tactics, after following 
a course so very opposite for so many centuries." Such 
a system of begging is an attempt, on the part of the 
Church of Eome, to ascertain the position of every 
family in the country, and their feelings in regard to 
Romanism. We find that this system has been set on 
foot on a very large scale. 

" The Popish organs tell us that these ' little sisters ' 
are in almost every country in Europe, and that now 
they are spreading themselves throughout England 
and Scotland. They, probably, take notes of every 
family to which they get access, and these notes are 
duly communicated to the priests, who, in turn, com- 
municate the substance of them to their bishops or 
other superiors. This is not mere fancy. It has been 
known that the visits of these nuns have already paved 
the way for visits by the priest to some Protestant 
families in our towns. It has been declared by one 
who has watched the system abroad, that this in-door 
reconnoitring is a mode of Pomish aggression, which, 
by gaining an entrance into Protestant households, is 
intended to make way for a more direct priestly inter- 
ference in such households. Dr. Wiseman has told us 
it is the aim of his party to reconquer England, and 
nun-begging is but a method to that end. The Jesuits, 
everywhere and always, attach it to their movements. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 55 

Under the form of charity, it is used as the pioneer to 
a system which would reduce this free land, as before 
the Reformation, to the priestly sway of the servants of 
the Pope of Rome. The giving of moneys or goods, in 
compliance with applications by these nuns, is equi- 
valent to supporting the Romish system, which the 
Bible declares to be sinful and idolatrous, and it is an 
effectual means by which the doctrines of the Church of 
Rome will be spread, especially among the reckless and 
lower classes, who are ready to sell their souls for a 
piece of bread. If the order of nuns are allowed thus 
to beg, and if it be proper to encourage them, it will be 
equally right to allow and encourage orders of monks to 
heg from door to door, and from hamlet to hamlet, as in 
the days before the Reformation, But this has been 
condemned by almost every country in Europe, and is 
altogether against the laws of this country. Hence it 
is the duty of every Protestant peremptorily to refuse 
every application." 

Many other open and secret acts are being trans- 
acted, allowed and courted, to the disgrace of Pro- 
testants. If an understanding had been entered into 
between Protestants and Roman Catholics that they 
should join a common fraternity, the former could 
hardly be more obliging, while the latter, in their 
crafty wisdom, could scarcely obtain a greater benefit 
from such a union. " Never mind," the Protestants 
say, " we cannot help it now ;" things have become so 
difficult to manage that they must be allowed to take 
their course. This " taking their course " is nothing 
more nor less than parleying with, and embracing the 
serpent. But, " never mind ;" all that is done and 
left undone is right and lawful, if we can find a reason, 



56 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

and the reason given is expediency (a leaf out of a 
Maynooth class-book). This real fellowship with Eome 
in the Legislature and the High Church has resulted in 
nothing less than the introduction of dungeons, con- 
taining " only a few instruments for correction" which 
have been established, and are known to be rapidly 
increasing in several places in our land. London may 
not be exempt from this deep satanic encroachment ; but 
while (in some places on the Continent) the strength of 
the devil is relaxing, England is opening her arms to 
receive, what even Eoman Catholic countries, after 
investigation, have been obliged to mitigate.* 

"The great movement at present going on in Germany 
is a sufficient awakener. "What has stirred, like a tempest, 
the whole ocean of Catholic life over almost every district 
of that great nation? The horrors resulting from the 
celibacy of the clergy, against which they have long 
petitioned the Pope in vain — the scandal to public morals 
and to private manners everywhere occasioned ~by that 
diabolical institution, have been of such a nature as com- 
pletely to open the eyes of the most simple and stupid, and 
to occasion loud demands for its removal. According to 
German policy, every means has been used to suppress the 
knowledge of the terrible revelations which, from time to 
time were taking place. The press was securely prevented 
by the censor from ever alluding to them; the police 
hushed all possible discussion regarding them ; yet, spite 
of all this, such bloody and tragic facts have oozed through 

* " It is hardly necessary to remind the reader that in the year 1829 
there were in Greal Britain 477 Popish priests, 449 Popish chapels, and 



scarcely a monastery or nunnery. In the present year of 1864 there are 

1,445 Popish priests, 1,098 Popish chapels, 56 'monasteries, and 186 

nunneries::: Such is the progress made hy superstiti< 

and blasphemy in the last thirty-five years; such the 

' Catholic Relief Bill,' that healing measure which made Ii 

thai wise (!!) measure, which proved England a dupe. 

Prophet ' <<!' Rome is also much indebted for the advance of' 



nunuenr-. Such is the progress made hy superstition, idolatry, 

and blasphemy in the last thirty-five years; such the fruit of the 

Catholic Relief Bill, that healing measure which made Ireland sore — 

The 'False 
his nefarious 
system to our infatuated statesmen, slumherhig bishops, treacherous 
and apathetic people." 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 57 

the thick walls of nunneries, and cast a horrible shade on 
the still roofs of village parsonages, as have thrilled with 
indignant terror the heart of every hearer. In many 
parsonages the people have preferred to see a family of 
children growing up, of whose parentage no question could 
be asked, to risking, even by a single remark, the increase 
of that feeling by which infanticide was made certain and 
fearfully frequent. In many states those religious pilgrim- 
ages to the shrines of certain popular saints, which still 
in Austria and Bavaria are very numerous, in which 
often as many as ten thousand people will be engaged,, 
making long journej^s through solitary forests and over the 
mountains, encamping in obscure places, far from towns, 
by night, and perhaps for days, at the end of their journey,, 
around the shrine, in some as lonely spot, have been 
obliged to be forbidden by Government from the licence 
and the crimes to which they gave origin, and in which the 
clergy often figured most mischievously for the interests of 
religion. In Austria, the- resort to these shrines is still 
enormous. In the month of September alone, the visitants 
to that of Maria Taferl, near Linz, often amount to one^ 
hundred and thirty thousand, and all summer the people 
are streaming from Vienna and other numberless places to 
that of the Black Virgin at Mariazell, in Styria. The 
governments of the most Catholic states are compelled to 
curb that licence which the Court of Eome allows, and to' 
put down those atrocities which have received the patron- 
age and the blessings of the most celebrated Pontiffs. The 
very clergy themselves writhe and groan under the bondage 
into which the decree of Gregory VTI. has thrown them — 
a decree which has condemned them to a living death, and 
made them, when they should be the fountains of holiness,, 
the most prolific fountains of crime and scandal. In vain 
they have implored the Pope to reconsider and abolish this 
unnatural decree ; its abolition now would bring down the 
whole Papal fabric. In the ' Black Songs' of Benedict 
Dalli, purporting to be the poetic autobiography of a 
Catholic priest, the whole terrible mystery of iniquity, the- 
purgatory and lonely wretchedness of a priest's life are- 
depicted with a feeling that makes you shrink with horror 
from the contemplation. Well has the Word of God stigma- 
tized this whole theory as 'a doctrine of devils,' intro- 
duced by the great apostasy. Like an all-pervading pes- 



58 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

tilence, it smites, with, fatal malignity, all tlie dearest 
interests of society, for it not only thus debases the clergy, 
but also consigns to necessary degradation and bondage 
all the masses of society, confusing and confounding all 
ideas of the very nature of holiness itself. It is this 
terrible reality, acting alike on priests and people in 
Oatholic countries, making the priest's life a true misery, 
converting him into a spy and a tool, compelling him who 
has vowed before Grod to proclaim the truth, into a studied 
and inevitable supporter of the most infamous frauds, a 
corrupter of the minds of the young, and -a tyrant where 
he should be the friend. It is because the Confessional has 
become the soul-trap of Satan and the well of all spiritual pol- 
lutions, that the popular mind has revolted from the system 
throughout Germany, and will revolt from it, finally, every- 
where. In England, we have had these horrors removed 
from our observation, and therefore Catholicism is tolerable 
and even piquant to the imagination." — " Papal Conspiracy 
Exposed," by E. Beecher, D.JD. (a book full of most useful 
information). 

We may expect these underground retreats, with 
other preparations, to make progress, as opportunities 
multiply, for beguiling young females, through, 
treachery and secret corruption, or forcing them away 
from their natural homes. In the face of all this, some 
few misguided and misinformed, young people work 
themselves up into a desire to go into a nunnery, taking 
it for granted that, in the seclusion of such a religious 
life } they w r ould be spared many of the ordinary dis- 
i]>) ><>intments and temptations of mixing with the 
world. Of course they never doubt the professed sin- 
cerity, love, and devotion of nuns, or the faithfulness of 
priests — men who profess to give up everything that 
they may devote themselves wholly to the service of 
God and the care of precious souls, whilst in their 
aanotimonioTM sanctity they mask their corrupting and 
murderous practices, (lleb. xiii. 4; 1 Cor. vi. 18.) 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 59 

They profess to deprive themselves of those domestic 
helps and comforts which, in mercy to man, Grod has 
provided. (1 Tim. iii. 2, 4, 5.) 

The holy and pure life of the priesthood is not sup- 
posed to require these lawful and needful gifts. (1 Cor. 
vii. 2.) 

No wives or children to tempt or distract their hearts, 
or to divide their affections. (Prov. xviii. 22). 

We are therefore expected to believe that they 
sacrifice everything for the Lord's sake. (Eph. v. 12; 
1 Thess. iv. 6, 7.) 

"We are also expected to believe that they exert such 
watchful care over themselves that they cannot venture 
to lift their eyes from the ground in passing a woman. 
(2 Peter ii. 14—19.) 

The feigned character is sure to aim at a standard 
either too high or too low, proving at once that (rod's 
standard is not understood or regarded. " Unautho- 
rized ascetism conduces to unbounded libertinism." 
" Grod is a Spirit : and they that worship Him must 
worship Him in spirit and in truth " (John iv. 24). 

Of course, then, these very holy and devoted priests 
must be unquestionably the best guides and teachers to 
consult and trust in ; but, more particularly qualified 
for extracting everything out of the hearts of young 
females, and for undertaking to keep watch over their 
souls — arranging and disposing of their affections, and 
thus claiming the first and most secret occupant in the 
hearts of these unsuspecting ones, many of whom are 
left to their own thoughts and ways till the priesthood 
takes possession of both ; thus they become the dupes 
of wickedness, and bound, as by a spell, to reveal nothing 
of what passes between them and their father confessor. 



6*0 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Poor deluded females I It stirs the spirit and 
makes the blood boil to think of the profound ignorance 
which exists, and its solemn issues. Not knowing, or 
caring to know, what is truth and what is error, they 
cannot see that Rome is essentially impure, unholy, and 
that Christ is essentially pure and holy, and thus they 
continue in the snare until they fall into the arms of the 
devil. It is not difficult to understand why the priests 
so rigidly deny the Holy Scriptures to the people ; their 
wicked dogmas and impurity could not abide in the same 
atmosphere with " the law and the testimony." They 
know that the Word of Grod represents Jesus Christ to 
the soul. Home deals with the Word as Satan dealt with 
the man Christ Jesus. And this is the position which 
professing Protestants are hasting into — allowing their 
daughters to go to the Brompton Oratory, and other 
such blasphemous places, to listen to music (one of the 
successful traps) ; another day to hear a " preaching of 
Christ" (another trap), intended to deceive the unwary 
so-called Protestants, and so induce them to go again 
and again. Thus the enemy is beguiling and destroying 
souls. Many mothers are shamefully inconsistent in 
their conduct in this matter. They are allowing their 
daughters to play with the fire, and shutting their eyes 
and ears, they become ignorant of their responsibility, 
and render both themselves and their children virtually 
recipients of these pollutions, which are doomed. What 
will such mothers "do in the end thereof?" After 
allowing their (laughters to attend churches which are 
nothing more nor less than stepping stones to Rome, 
how needful are grace and wisdom now to enable them 
to open their eyes and ears to see and understand their 
true position! When your daughters are suffered to 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 61 

regard their clergyman as a father confessor, and reve- 
lations are thus made to these Eomish priests in disguise, 
what can they expect ? The churches and the priests 
combined are regarded as their salvation. Thus the 
judgment, will, and soul are brought under bondage 
to man, and mothers discover, to their utter distraction, 
when too late, that their children are lost to all parental 
influence. This solemn state of things is looked at by 
some mothers, and others who have the charge of young 
women, as "an innocent and easy way for them to get 
comfort — a lawful and instructive channel for the clergy- 
man to obtain knowledge of their characters ; and who 
can so well comfort and guide them in all their little 
or great diniculties, as their clergyman?" So says 
Eome also. 

THE POWER WHICH THE CONFESSIONAL GIVES TO THE PRIEST. 

" It corrupts his mind, and then affords opportunity to 
carry out the evil design. The confessor learns the state 
of the heart, and knows his victim. It is admitted by 
Roman Catholic authorities that priests have lost their own 
souls, and those of their penitents, in the confessional. . . . 
'Knowledge is power.' In every sense this is true; but 
man, in his intercourse with his fellow, judges of mind 
only by outward actions. Could the diplomatist see the 
hearts, the intentions, the real feelings of those with whom 
he has to deal, he could calculate with certainty upon success. 
In proportion as a man is acquainted with human nature, 
does he possess power in intercourse with his fellow. The 
confessor dives at once into the secrets of the human 
bosom. From the king to the beggar, all unfold their 
hearts to him, and, officially, the most ignorant priest 
acquires a knowledge of human purposes and dispositions, 
to which the most philosophic and ,acute cannot attain. 
Consider the influence which he possesses over those who 
acknowledge his pretensions. He is regarded in a fourfold 
point of view — Physician, Counsellor, Father, and Judge — 
in fact, as God in the Confessional ; as Dens distinctly says, 



62 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

' He is God in the Confessional ' (p. 160., torn. 6, Dublin, 
1832). Irrespective even of character, he is venerated 
as God's vicegerent, invested with powers of a superhuman 
kind. Yiewed in this light, he can exercise control by 
advice. What earthly parent, judge, or counsellor, in 
the estimation of the devout Romanist, could have half the 
influence of the confessor. Regarded as one who possesses 
authority from God to forgive sins, and to change the ele- 
ments of bread and wine into the Lord of life and glory, 
his advice is all potent, and influence unbounded." — 
Blalceney' 's "Popery in its Social Aspect" 

We recommend this book to Protestants, as con- 
taining valuable information. 

"I am bold to say aloud, that Protestants have nothing 
yet upon this important matter so precise as what I am 
about to say. I have confessed priests and laymen of every 
description, a bishop (once), superiors, curates, persons high 
and low, women, girls, boys. I am, therefore, fitted to 
speak of the confessional. Confessors endeavour to give a 
high opinion of their own holiness to fathers and husbands, 
that they may be induced to send to the confessional with- 
out fear their wives and daughters; because, doubtless, 
should fathers and husbands know what passes at the con- 
fession box between the holy man and their wives and 
daughters, they never would permit them again to go to 
tljose schools of vice. But priests command most carefully 
to women never to speak of their confession to men, and 
they inquire severally about that in every confession. The 
confession of the female sex is the great triumph, the most 
splendid theatre of priests. The more I think of this 
matter, the more I remember this sentence : ' Priests, in 
taking the vows of renouncing marriage, engage them- 
selves to take the wives of others.' — The statement of a 
converted Roman Catholic Priest." — " Papal Conspiracy 
Exposed" E. Beecher, D.B. 

When this frightful abomination, corrupting inter- 
course, and wicked teaching, in the Church of England, 
have run their course, what must the natural issue be 
but that of adding souls to Babylon, the mother of 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 63 

harlots ? Mothers ! the precious souls of your daughters 
are being seduced into perdition. The end of all things 
is fast approaching ! Beware in time ! Take warning 
before it is too late ! Consider what you are doing,, 
and what you' are omitting to do ! Eegard all such 
priestly clergymen as really worse than the openly 
avowed Romish priest. They are working the same 
work of death, playing into one another's hands, and 
necessarily are serving the same master. It may be 
instructive just to refer to what took place in the House 
of Lords, May 12. During discussion about the Popish 
and unprincipled conduct of the Rev. A. D. Wagner, 
" the half-hatched Roman priest/' — a true specimen of 
such in disguise — the unlawfulness of the confessional 
and other innovations in the Church of England was 
honestly pleaded by the Marquis of "VVestmeath. On 
which occasion the Bishop of London, in reply, ex- 
pressed himself in the following words : — " Unfor- 
tunately, there was great doubt as to the law ; and 
there was great difficulty in ascertaining the facts." 
It is rather astonishing, and not less significant and 
still harder to believe, that the Bishop of London can 
be ignorant of "the law" or "the facts," while the 
Church of Christ and the world at large are both well 
up in all the Popish proceedings which are so fully acted 
out, and so easy to be understood, in some fourteen or 
more of the churches in the Bishop of London's diocese. 
The following are a few out of the number : — St. Alban's, 
Holborn ; St. Greorge's-in-the-East ; Holy Trinity, 
Yauxhall ; St. Mary Magdelene, Munster Square ; 
St. Matthew's, Stoke Newington ; Christ Church, Clap- 
ham; St. Paul's, Knightsbridge, &c, &c. Be not 
content to remain destructively ignorant of the devices 



64 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

and stratagems now deceiving so many. Take alarm 
before you find your own daughters, or others for 
whom you are responsible, inveigled away, and secreted, 
never perhaps to be traced or heard of again ; and 
if searched after, drugging is not unfrequently re- 
sorted to, to neutralize the power of telling what has 
passed. Two cases have lately oozed out before the 
public (Mary Eyan and Eliza M'Dermot). These are 
specimens which afford sufficient proof of what is 
ever being transacted to fill the hearts of mothers 
with profound horror and indignation. Will not such 
unjustifiable acts and indignities intensify their feel- 
ings and energize their common senses ? It is time 
to begin to weigh their responsibilities with the sad 
results arising from the unfaithfulness of mothers, while 
most things around us are being formed and fashioned 
under the influence of this deception, which is as yet 
" the master-piece of Satan." Not only is much of 
the jewellery of the present day decidedly "Romish in 
its form, but even the toys for children are many of 
them made to familiarize the mind with Romish prac- 
tices, and to poison the minds of babes. We may well 
sound out a warning voice to mothers, entreating them 
lo beware ! It is time for the people to take this matter 
into their own hands, for it is vain to rely for pro- 
tection from Popery on those who are sworn to preserve 
Protestantism in this country, as the following letter 
will show : — 

"Our readers, no doubt, will have seen the accounts 
which have been going the round of the papers, of the 
abduction of a nun by the Sisters of Mercy, as they are 
called— and running away with her into Belgium. That 
this is an illegal act, Sir George Grey does not deny, and 
declares the parlies engaged in this illegal business "liable 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 65 

to an indictment for the offence. But they are Papists, 
therefore the Secretary of State, Sir George Grey — one of 
our law-makers — can also break them, as the folio wing 
will prove. We are glad, however, that he is not to do so 
with impunity, as the Dover Town Council has the matter 
in hand, and the whole affair will be brought before 
Parliament. It is not long ago since this Puseyite Popery- 
supporting Grey had his knuckles pretty heavily rapped 
for a piece of his handy- work. We hope this time he will 
be kicked out of the ministry, and all such traitors to the 
laws of our land. However, the following are the par- 
ticulars to which we refer : — 

" At a meeting of the Dover Town Council, held a 
short time ago, the following letter was read on the 
subject of the late alleged forcible abduction of an 
insane female from this country by Catholic Sisters of 
Mercy : — 

" ' Sir, — With reference to the correspondence which 
has taken place respecting the removal to Belgium of 
a British subject named Mary Pyan, otherwise Sister 
Theresa, a Sister of Mercy, from the Hospital of St. John 
of Jerusalem and St. Elizabeth, No. 47, Great Ormond 
Street, Queen Square, London, I am directed by Secretary 
Sir George Grey to inform you that he has caused all the 
papers on the subject to be submitted to the law officers of 
the Crown, for their opinion as to the liability of persons 
concerned in such removal to prosecution, and that they 
have given it as their opinion that the removal of the said 
lady from this country under the circumstances stated was 
illegal, and that all parties concerned in it are liable to an 
indictment for the offence of forcibly abducting her to 
ports beyond the seas. Inasmuch, however, as those con- 
cerned appear to have been actuated by no improper 
motives, Sir George Grey has intimated to the lady super- 
intendent of the said hospital, who is reported to have 
superintended the removal, that he does not propose to 
institute legal proceedings in the present instance, but 
that he considered it his duty to warn her of the conse- 
quences of taking part in any similar case which may 
hereafter occur. I am, sir, yours, &c, 

Whitehall, November 15. H. WADD1NGT0N.' " 



<< t 



66 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

" The Town Council discussed the letter at some length, 
and Mr. Eees said, as the Secretary of State had declined 
to take proceedings against the parties who had thus 
violated the law of the land, he should use his in- 
fluence with some members of Parliament to bring the 
matter forward next session ; for he could not understand 
that Sir George Grey should enter into the motives of 
persons to sanction the commission of an illegal act.*' 

One testimony out of many which might be given : — 

"Sir. — Calling at Clifton to-day, on Mrs. Hickson, a 
clergyman's widow, I was told that screams have been 
heard by her, and neighbours, at night and early in the 
morning. A nurse, distressed by the shriek of horror, 
went out, and proceeded to the convent door, saw a 
struggling girl between two priests; they pushed her into the 
gates of the nunnery. She had been brought in a fly. A 
deed of darkness and piteous ! Sir George Grey ought to 
know of this fact. He is apparently a coward in heart 
when Eome questions are put before him. He really 
ought to know that Popery is like a nettle, grasp it firmly 
and it stings not — be tender in handling it, and he himself 
will be stung. 

"Kev. K A Taylor. 

"Norton Eectory, Bristol, Jan. 26, 1865." 



THE MOXKS, ETC. 



" England, the land of our nativity, the home of the 
most religious, the most civilized, the most charitable and 
moral, the most pure and benevolent people upon the face 
of the earth ! — England, the nation of churches, the native 
country of missions and of all those pious and evangelical 
enterprises which have so wonderfully assisted to scatter 
the clouds of darkness, and instrumentally to enlighten the 
people with the light of eternal truth— this happy garden 
of Cod's great, created, and inhabited universe, has, for 
some years past, been threatened to be infested with the 
poisonous, the demoralising, and the destructive influence 
of this Batanic master-piece of hypocrisy and worse than 
heathen barbarity. Thousands in our own delightful 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS, b/ 

country now are immolated, concealed, corrupted, robbed, 
and, in a moral and social sense, destroyed. Our fair 
damsels, our simple-minded, timid, and easily beguiled 
daughters, are ensnared, imprisoned, and to their families 
and friends for ever lost." 

"In a recent lecture, given by Dr. Cumming, lie ob- 
served, referring to convents, that ' they were held sacred 
by the Pope, to be maintained by the state, and the magis- 
trates were to have the power of punishing those who 
escaped from these institutions. Now in England there 
were about 200 convents, where 10,000 ladies where shut 
up. Was it reasonable to assume that many of these 
would gladly escape ? Entered, perhaps, at the early age 
of sixteen or seventeen, after serving a brief apprenticeship 
at a tractarian place of worship, which were merely training 
schools for the future inmates of convents. It was not to 
be denied that some entered after mature reflection, though 
no doubt, many who entered young would, after serving 
four or five years, be glad to be free. But, while the 
Queen's representatives had charge of minors, and could 
inspect at pleasure lunatic asylums or hospitals, these con- 
vents defied the inspectors' powers. Was it desirable there 
should be such secluded spots in this country ? What were 
their principles ? From the highest Poinish authority nuns 
were taught to despise the married state. They were told 
to obey their confessor, for so doing they obeyed Grod. 
Their property might be taken by the superior : they must 
submit to be beaten, though not in the presence of a lay- 
man, and to murmur was a great sin.' After reading 
various rules by which the nuns were governed, the lecturer 
asked ' if it was wonderful that the Pope protested against 
the inspection of such institutions, or was it surprising that 
the priests in this country should cry out against any 
attempt to pass a law for the inspection of convents ? Nor 
was it, seeing such places existed in this land, surprising 
to hear Protestants were petitioning that these sacred 
abodes, which held these 10,000 ladies, should be thrown 
open to the inspector's gaze."— Published at " Gospel Guide " 
Office, Crane Court, Fleet Street. 

"Whatever might have been the object of the Pope 
and his advisers in his Encyclical Letter, it has un- 

f 2 



68 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

doubtedly damaged the cause of Pomanism beyond 
remedy. Already the letter has been publicly burned in 
Naples, and multitudes who have learned lessons of liberty 
from the becoming words of Niccolini — Pome's special 
terror and abhorrence — are waiting impatiently the hour 
of its fall. 

" The world has learnt a truth, not grown in shrines, 
And spurns a church that shuts it out from heaven." 

' ' Elsewhere in Italy the fulminations of Pope Pius fall 
unheeded, and the letter and appendix are treated with 
great contempt. In Austria and Spain there is an outcry 
of the press generally against it ; while in France — against 
which it was specially directed — its result has been to throw 
an apple of discord between the government and the bishops, 
the latter being placed in the position of the man who has 
to serve two masters. In Pussia the publication of the 
Encyclical Letter is forbidden, while the Czar has resolved 
on the reform atien of the Pomish Church in Poland, with 
the determination to pay the clergy, and so make the 
Church dependent on the state. Most important of all, we 
trust that it will open the eyes of England to the real 
enormities of this evil system, which is creeping, snake- 
like, into quiet nooks in our fair provinces, planting what 
are called religious houses, to become once more what they 
have formerly been, moral pest-houses and dens of corrup- 
tion. Already in our midland counties there are heard the 
shrieks and screams of women. Most opportunely for 
our illustration has occurred the Brompton Oratory case, 
showing how the priest hesitates not to step between 
parent and child, and to violate the most sacred of rights 
and duties. The Christian churches of England are im- 
peratively called upon to arouse themselves from the 
apathy into which they have sunk on this vital question. 
Especially should the public mind of England awake to 
the iniquitous conduct of those, who, members of the 
Church established by law, are, under various specious 

mces, doing these things themselves, and glorying in 
others who do them. We are far from desiring to see 
religion established by law, or men of any religion perse- 

! by law, and hold all penal statutes against religious 
men of any denomination to be a disgrace to our Statute 
Book ; but we trust that the House of Commons will, 
during tl ion, take some steps to establish a 



SPIRITUALISM AXD OTHER SIGNS. 69 

rigid system of inspection for convents, so that the 
thousands of deluded women who have been entrapped 
or beguiled within them may not be mentally, morally, 
and physically crushed and degraded, without mercy and 
without appeal. 

" If these houses are to be the places of refuge and havens 
of peace for females weary of the world, as represented, 
what need can there be of dungeons, and gratings, and 
chains, and cages, such as are known to exist in free and 
happy England ? Our lunatic asylums are under the 
guardianship of the law. There is more reason that these 
nunneries should be visited by impartial officials, who 
should have the power to insist on setting wide the gates, 
and bidding the oppressed go free." 

It is hard to realize the fact that our legislators are 
well acquainted with the history of this great struggle, 
which is again being resumed in all its force. The 
darkest, most perilous, and suffering periods through 
which this land has passed, tottered, and reeled to and 
fro, and from which it was only just saved, arose from 
the murderous treachery of Rome, ever ready to prove 
the hellish depths of her secreted resources, when con- 
venient opportunities are presented for manifesting her 
hatred to all who, whether influenced by nature or 
grace, have been kept from putting on her livery. 
"And the woman was arrayed in purple and scarlet 
colour, an decked with gold and precious stones and 
pearls, having a golden cup in her hand full of abomi- 
nations and filthiness of her fornication : and upon her 
forehead was a name written, MYSTEEY, BABYLON 
THE GEEAT, THE MOTHEE OF HAELOTS 
AND ABOMINATIONS OF THE EAETH. And 
I saw the woman drunken with the blood of the saints, 
and with the blood of the martyrs of Jesus : and when 
I saw her, I wondered with great admiration " (Eev. 
xvii. 4 — 6). In her "drunken" habits she sends out 



70 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

blood-hounds in human form from educational kennels to 
kill and destroy ; or in serpent's form indulging in her 
insidious policy and fascination, she delights herself in 
the victims she has lured into her secret dungeons. 

" What is Eomanism ? Komanism is a satanic, gigantic 
fraud, and deadly evil, whether considered politically, 
intellectually, socially, or religiously. It is Christianity's 
grand antagonist : as Christianity is intended and calculated 
to glorify God, and bless man, so Eomanism is intended 
and calculated to dishonour God and ruin man. It is 
spiritual mesmerism in the hands of skilful operators." — 
fi. Steele, formerly a Romanist. 

It is the positive duty of those who hold themselves 
responsible for the well-being of their fellow men, 
whether the legislature or the heads of families, to take 
the trouble to inquire into this lamentable state of 
things, and remember that what has been may be again. 
Those who depend upon the faithful discharge of their 
responsibility claim it of them now, before Maynooth 
and other such dens of abominations shall return upon 
this guilty nation the just reward of her sinful and 
cowardly doings. Rome knows her own business too 
well not to give a high percentage for an income of 
£350,000 granted her by her Protestant friends ! ! She 
only waits her own and their convenience to acknow- 
ledge in full the debt of gratitude under which she is 
bound. At the same time a more intelligent course of 
expediency than has wont to be practised, would be more 
suitable for our Government and the people, as a pre- 
paration for the reception of these tokens of grateful 
love! Self-preservation and the preservation of the 
nation call upon us all to regard every innovation from 
Rome's deep and pestilential vaults as the harbinger of 
all evil. The family, social, and political interests of 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 71 

any people must be, as they ever have been, withered 
and corrupted under the debasing grasp of that worst 
and most treacherous of all systems. When we know 
that morality is systematically swamped by the per- 
nicious cunning craftiness of the teaching and practices 
of Rome to make room for its religious immoralities and 
defilements, and that Jesus Christ is hunted and per- 
secuted in and through His people even unto the death, 
we may, as His disciples, take heart, if we magnify our 
high calling, and, as the office-bearers of the " faith once 
delivered to the saints," rise up with renewed strength 
and jealousy to exalt the honour and glory due to our 
risen Lord and Master, by protesting, with all holy 
boldness, against every opposition to Him and His 
truth, and every innovation of error. On such high 
ground we shall necessarily be found looking down upon 
all untruthful expediencies, unholy sophistries, and the 
fear of man. This standing must result in a sacrifice of 
that respect which we would, if we could, feel for and 
give to those who occupy positions in high places, 
involving weighty results, professing to hold themselves 
responsible for the well-being of the nation. 

The times we live in are too rapidly unfolding the 
prophetic signs of momentous events, for the ignorance 
of truth and error to be pleaded by any one who is 
taught the truth as it is in Jesus. Whoever, there- 
fore, is found walking in disobedience or sin, and 
thereby propagating evil, of whatever kind it may be, 
that person ought to be a subject for observation and 
inquiry on the part of others, to enable them the better 
to exhort and warn their fellow-men who transgress 
wilfully or ignorantly. If this is a matter of con- 
scientious duty which we owe one to the other in our 



72 SPIRITUALISM AXD OTHER SIGNS. 

relative positions, what ought to be the conscientious 
duty in word and deed, emanating from a legislative 
body to the people, and from the people to the legisla- 
tive body in return ? Surety, then, as these are mani- 
festly the days when viperous errors are undermining 
Protestantism, and corruption neutralising morality, 
Eoman theology is countenanced (hugged secretly) and 
propagated broadcast over our land. All manner of 
infidel sophistry is listened to, and so dealt with in high 
places, that we may say one platform is now given to 
error and truth, thus sending forth a specious dignified 
sanction to all who feel disposed to fall in with so 
honourable and worthy a compact, to play battledore 
and shuttle-cock with time and eternity, God and the 
devil, heaven and hell, souls and their responsibility. Is 
this the representation of a Protestant nation? the 
standard of that righteousness which exalteth a nation ? 
or is it that " sin which is a reproach to any people ?" 
Which have we to reign over us, God or Baal ? 

" When the righteous are in authority, the people 
rejoice ; but when the wicked beareth rale, the people 
mourn" (Prov. xxix. 2). It is time for Protestants to 
sound an alarm, and it is a mercy to know our friends 
from our foes. Councils and discussions multiply ; but 
is the honour of God referred to, or His truth valued 
and sought after, as the guide to those who have to 
legislate in the affairs of men ? 

" Have the interests of the Church of Christ been 
advanced by her alliance with the State ? No ; but far 
otherwise, the formalism and degradation of the Church 
being in proportion to the closeness of such alliance. The 
kingdoms of this world are in hostility to our Lord, and are 
influenced by Hie Prince of Darkness, whose subjects they 
generally are. Even Protestant Governments make the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 73 

religious systems which they support subservient to their 
schemes, and will advance, equally and simultaneously, in- 
terests and principles the most antagonistic. Our own 
Government will encourage Christianity in England, 
Popery in all her dominions, and Paganism in India; 
while Eomish governments not only cramp the energies of 
Christians, but manifest towards them and Christianity the 
most deadly opposition." — "Doctrines of Christianity and 
Boy mas of Romanism" Robert Steele. 

u Religion, in its name, and purpose, and divine origin, 
was meant to be the bond to bind men. What a thing 
when it is made the lever to crack and break asunder, to 
divide kingdoms and families, in order that a hostile 
caste, who have renounced humanity, may subjugate and 
govern for themselves ! When to be pious is to be a traitor 
and a spy, is to bring a stranger's hand to the purse, a 
stranger's lips to the cradle, a stranger's ear to the hearth, 
and oh, worst of all, a stranger's eye over the most sacred 
tie in the family ! Between the bridegroom and the bride, 
between the mother and the child, between the brother and 
the sister, between the master and the servant, between the 
sovereign and his liege, everywhere and always the priest, 
the curse-laden, blighting priest ! Think of how many a 
holy domestic paradise this serpent daily enters, and — the 
wife or daughter, caught as Eve was, all alone — turns into 
a wilderness ! Look at the struggling, hopelessly ( ? ) 
struggling, Continent of Europe, where, instead of truth, 
and justice, and human confidence, Popery and standing 
armies keep men quiet like brute beasts ! Look at the 
Wiseman- and- Cullen Quarterly Review; perpend there the 
rationale of Popery and despotism, of scarlet stockings and 
the bayonet, and say if the results we see are accidental. 
Let the same system take root with us, and Popish priests 
grow into an estate ; let distinctions (conferred in the 
Queen's despite, by a presumptuous Pontiff, whose reign- 
ing is but a juggle, who only lives and has his being vetus 
delictum, in man's forbearance on their folly) ; let Papal 
distinctions go on being recognized in Government offices, 
by judges, by cabinet ministers, and at Court ; let men, 
whose first allegiance, it is avowed, is paid to Pome, come 
to hold the balance of power in Parliament, and a Grey or 
Clarendon become prime minister, and the people of these 



74 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

realms will have to choose between another Reformation 
and a standing army ! Confidence between man and man 
can alone supply the place of force; and confidence be- 
tween man and man upon the Roman system is as possible 
as companionship with tigers and hyenas. 

"And this very number of the Papal quarterly jeers 
aloud at ' the slaves,' not of Her Majesty 1 s supremacy, 
not of the supremacy of Queen, Lords, and Commons, but 
'of the supremacy of law,' human or divine — that is to 
say, of any supremacy upon earth but that of the Pope of 
Pome ! * We are not pretending to follow the reasoning 
of those who are slaves to the supremacy of law ' (p. 223). 
Slavery to the supremacy of law ! How truth will out ! 
From the fulness of the heart the mouth speaketh. Other 
men believe that liberty consists in the supremacy of law 
— in being under no restraint but that of law, in being 
subject to the will of none. But, according to Pome, 
slavery is being under law. It is liberty to be at the will 
of a master, provided that master be a Pope's priest; 
liberty to know only what is authorized permissu superiorum; 
liberty to be able to speak out only by a Papal priest's 
conceditur, or print only with his imprimatur. It is liberty 
to be liable to be proceeded against capitally without forms 
of law (pp. 20, 21) ; liberty to live at a priest's good 
pleasure, subject to torture at his discretion, and to be 
hanged or burned ut lubet illi. This is Pome's notion of 
a layman's liberty ; the liberty of a Papal priest, according 
to Pius IX. himself, is, as we shall see, ' freedom to 
exercise his proper power or jurisdiction ' over laymen. 

" Imagine the Anglo-Saxons of the present day trans- 
formed into the glorious liberty of Frenchmen or Italians 
in the days of Alexander VI. Imagine a Du Bellai-Blom- 
field, as Ordinary of London, commanding, in the Vice- 
God's name, Her Majesty the Queen, her Poyal Consort 
and the court, the peers temporal resident in London, the 
City members of Parliament, the Lord Mayor and his 
livery, and the * faithful ' generally, to be ready on 
Wednesday, the 5th day of November next, in full dress, 
to go on foot processionally, torch in hand, for a holy 
spectacle prepared for them by his zeal and piety, in 
honour of blessed Guy Pawkes, to the centre of Hyde 
Park. Imagine this holy spectacle to be some dozen 
alternate men and women, with chains around their bodies, 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 75 

hoisted and lowered by pulleys during two mortal hours 
over a slow fire of well-burnt coals ! Imagine, at the holy 
Bishop's suggestion, an English sovereign holding up an 
English heir-apparent (it is the Jesuit Daniel's glorification 
of Erancis I.), and calling Grod and the great multitude to 
witness that he would fain see that Royal child burnt in 
like manner should he turn Protestant ! Imagine this, or 
imagine the actual atmosphere of the ' Holy City,' or of 
Naples, existing here in England, and the British people 
enjoying 'true liberty' (see p. 25.) under a Pius or a 
Ferdinand! Imagine these things, ye besotted English 
laity, Protestant and Eomanist, and bewail your wretched 
'slavery to the supremacy of law,' or lawful sovereign! 
Imagine these things, and think well if ye, too, will not 
join in the race of Austria and Prussia, of France and 
Spain, to overtake the blessed liberty of Southern Italy 
and a Pope's universal supremacy, undisputed over 
Christendom." — " Cases of Conscience" ly Pascal the 
Younger. 

What but the "Word of Grod alone can teach man 
the right way, or preserve him in it. The injurious, 
contaminating results of the corrupt principles and 
teachings of the present day, the cowardly and wicked 
conduct of those who look no higher than to their fellow 
man for honour or praise, while they occupy positions 
of trust, are not to be regarded or treated as holding 
neutral ground. They are positive enemies to Grod and 
man, and every Christian is bound to bear testimony to 
the honour of his Lord and Master, according to the 
wisdom and grace given him, leaving results with Grod, 
who says, "Him that honour eth me I will honour." 
Were Christians more manifestly of one mind in the 
true catholic bond, living up to " the family" duties and 
privileges, how much of present darkness and corruption 
would be shamed, and, instead of lifting the proud head 
with " Who is Lord over us ? " or, the Lord " will not 
do good, neither will He do evil," hence fulfilling Grod's 



76 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Word in their own case, they would necessarily see that 
those who do fear and love God rejoice in having such 
a Lord to reign over them, while those who fear Him 
not are walking in the light of their own fire, in the 
sparks of their own kindling, thus preparing to lie down 
in sorrow. 

The faithful in the land are enabled through grace to 
look at the present forebodings of coming storms in 
assurance of understanding, faith, and hope — "hope 
that maketh not ashamed" — while their cry goes on- 
ward and upward, "Come, Lord Jesus." The Chris- 
tian, who is really devoted to a life of faith, and is 
crucified to, and cares not for the things of sight and 
sense, must cease altogether to look up to, or expect 
truth and example from, any man or government whose 
principles and conduct are in opposition to the Word of 
God ; although Protestantism is supposed by many to 
be a safeguard and proof against the very errors and 
evils which nevertheless are now rampant in our midst 
— proving the worthlessness of having a name, while 
destitute of its principle. Most favourable opportunities 
are now given to prove the strength of Protestantism, 
and let those who know the value of such principles in 
these unprotestant and unfaithful days gather together 
and practise all that Protestantism claims — unflinching 
and stern refusal of all substitutes — and a bold and 
continual exposure of such substitutes, remembering that 
whether we are great or small this responsibility and 
faithful conduct are laid upon each. Treachery is now 
so manifest in Church and State, and Eomanism is so 
evidently usurping the place of Protestantism, that it 
behoves many to beware how far they are slipping, and 
may continue to slip, till they find themselves in one of 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 77 

Home's strongholds before they are aware. The fol- 
lowing is a specimen of what is alluded to : — 

Lacy de Lacy is a peer's son, his mother a peer's 
daughter. He is a Church of England clergyman, 
amiable, accomplished, learned, pious, and if not philo- 
sophic, quick, and penetrating. He is converted at 
forty, and believes infallibility as he believes the one 
Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church, and accepts as 
heartily Ignatius Loyola's legitimate development of it, 
" blind obedience ! " Read what that development is in 
Loyola's own words : — 

"Obedience is to be rendered to a superior, not on 
account of his wisdom, goodness, or any other such like 
quality with which he may be divinely gifted, but solely 
because he holds Grod's place, and wields the authority of 
Him who saith, ' He that heareth you, heareth me ; and he that 
despiseth you, despiseth me? Nor, on the other hand, is 
anything to be abated from this obedience on the ground 
that the superior may be wanting in prudence or discretion, 
for he claims it as superior, and as representing Him whose 
wisdom can never be deceived, and who will Himself make 
up whatever is wanting in His minister of the grace of 
probity or any other. ' The noble simplicity of blind 
obedience is gone if in our secret breast we call in question 
whether that which is commanded be bight or wrong. 
This is what makes it perfect and acceptable to the Lord, 
that the most excellent and precious part of man is conse- 
crated to Him, and nothing whatever of him kept back for 
himself.' 

"And let every man be well persuaded that he who lives 
under obedience ought to suffer himself to be carried about 
and governed of divine providence, through his superiors, 
exactly as if he were a corpse, which suffers itself to be 
turned in all directions, and dragged everywhere ; or as if 
he were an old man's stafe, to be used wheresoever and 
in whatsoever he wishes who holds it in his hand." — " Cases 
of Conscience," by Pascal the Younger. 

" Thou sinner, the most robust Eomanist must " (says Dr. 
Wiseman, even if he be the Pope, and not only must), "he 



78 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

go for direction to his spiritual doctor, but he must submit 
himself to it, or be anathema out of hand. The sovereign 
Pontiff is obliged to submit himself to the direction of 
another in whatever concerns his own soul."— N. Wiseman, 
Preface to " Exercises of S. Ignatius Lo\ 



To this must be added from the work itself, p. 180 — 

" That he may in all things attain the truth, that he 
may not err in anything, we ought ever to hold it as a fixed 
principle, that what I see white I believe to be black, if 
the Hierarchical Church so define it to be." — Dolman, 
London, 1847. 

These quotations at once prove to what extent the 
human mind can be shrouded in profound darkness, 
and lost to all shame or fear. But such a state of 
things is not learned in a day. The wisdom of the 
serpent has his alphabet scholars well grounded to pre- 
pare them for what must follow. The babes are at first 
attracted by pictures, music, images, change of garments, 
and sculpture. Are any of these deceptions falling 
short now to gratify the senses, and to excite the pas- 
sions ? Hence the results are but too plainly develop- 
ing. All is successfully working for Borne. 

"Let the sensuous admirers of lovely forms of charity, 
and of mediaeval developments of high imaginative devo- 
tion, look thoughtfully at what lies beneath, and remember 
that, in the church where they are tempted to seek them, 
in the church which flings anathema on all who deny it to 
be the only one truth, the link which binds man to his 
fellow-man, is repudiated, and this solemnly, deliberately, 
authoritatively, irrevocably, not by a civil tribunal interpret- 
ing its disputed though written laws, not by a court that 
any man can pretend incompetent, but by that church itself, 
influenced or overruled by no extrinsic power, pronouncing, 
ex cathedra, the judgment of twenty sacred congregations, 
of cardinals, through the lips of Christ's pretended vicar 
upon earth. RATIO SOANDAM, some worldly reason is the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 79 

only ultimate reason why any mere papist should not lie, 
and swear false oaths in England as devoutly as shoot 
landlords or their agents in the neighbouring island. 

"Read the 'never-to-be-censured,' the 'safe and in- 
fallible ' Liguori, who brings a score of great divines to 
prove that probability is all that is required for what you 
swear is true, in oaths declaratory or promissory ; that a 
witness interrogated upon oath by incompetent authority 
(the Arches' Court for instance), may swear just what he 
pleases : that no matter how competent the court may be, 
if a crime be secret, the witness is bound to swear it false, 
though he knows it true ; that a man who has paid bor- 
rowed money may swear he never had received it ; that a 
man, whose marriage contract is got rid of, may swear he 
never was betrothed ; that an adultress, who has confessed 
her sin, may solemnly call God to witness she is inno- 
cent ; that traders may swear they have paid a higher 
price than they have done for what they offer for sale ; 
that any man may swear anything, provided in a whisper 
he secretly subjoin some true circumstance ; and finally, 
that every oath, made by a sincere Romanist, is made with 
mental reservation in favour of all the prelatical or papal 
pretensions of his church, salvo jure superiorum. Read these 
lessons, which no man in the Church of Rome dares call in 
question, or may be refused absolution for practising, and 
then think what any zealous 'faithful,' what any priest, 
what any bishop, archbishop, or cardinal can mean by 
swearing before the highest or the lowest court in Eng- 
land ? What, but to persuade belief of just that which it 
is expedient for his church should be believed ? 

"Who, amongst other 'mounts and marvels,' swore 
before the House of Lords that the spiritual politics of 
Hildebrand were mocked at or forgotten in the Church 
of Eome ? 

' ' Borne makes war without quarter against every natural 
authority, civil and domestic, and is as anti-national as 
anti-social. Her great 'tribunal,' the confessional, is a 
shambles, where men's souls are set up for sale, as well as 
slaughtered. 

"Let no one flatter himself the picture is overdrawn. 
Liguori, deliberately writing in his closet, says, ' Priests in 
the world, really good men, are rarely — not to say most 
rarely — to be found.' For the most of men, he declares, 



80 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHEK SIGNS. 

the priesthood, with the confessional and its dangers, is 
'almost certain damnation.' " — " Cases of Conscience" by 
Pascal the Younger. 

" A confessor may swear before a judge that he knows 
nothing of the criminal's guilt, for, as a man, he knows 
nothing about it, and only knows it as he is God's vicar." 

" Heretics may be compelled to return to the Church, 
inasmuch as they belong to the Church, and may be 
punished by her, and condemned by anathema. Q. What 
if they should prove obstinate ? — may they be slain ? 
Ans. Clearly, for thus we are taught by the Holy Scriptures, 
and the orthodox fathers." Q. What is the lot of heretics 
after death ? Ans. They are condemned to the eternal fire 
of hell. 

" A son may denounce his father to the Inquisition if he 
be a heretic. 

" A man may slay his father in defence of his country." 
— "Popery Tottering to its Fall in 1866," by Joseph 
Fernandez, B.A. 

EQUIVOCATION AND THE ROMISH OATH. 

"It seems there are two kinds of equivocation — that 
which is necessary, and that which is unnecessary • or that 
which may not be laid aside, and that which can be laid 
aside. When the Eomanist, therefore, swears with a de- 
claration that he does not use equivocation, he means a 
particular sort of equivocation, or that which may be laid 
aside, but not the necessary equivocation. 

" One fact is worth a thousand arguments. Is it not a 
public fact that Eomish members of Parliament deliberately 
take an oath not to injure the Established Church ? Is it 
not a fact, notwithstanding that oath, that Eomish members 
of Parliament employ all their influence for the overthrow 
of the Establishment ? 

" Q. — By what process of reasoning do they justify such 
conduct? 

" A. — They assert that there is a necessary equivocation 
which may not be laid aside, and an unnecessary equivoca- 
lion which may; that, when sworn without equivocation 
or mental reservation, they lay aside merely unnecessary 
equivocation; that the equivocation which is needed to 
enable them i destroy the Protestant religion is necessary 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 81 

equivocation, and cannot be laid aside, because it is for the 
good of the Church of Eome to subvert the Protestant 
Church, the Protestant religion, and Protestant govern- 
ment. 

" Q. — What practical lesson should we derive from the 
avowal of such principles ? 

"A. — That men trained to such systematic lying and 
perjury as part of their religion, are disqualified to legis- 
late in Parliament or elsewhere for Protestants ; and that 
the preservation of our own civil and religious liberty 
requires that all Eoman Catholics be excluded from Par- 
liament and power." — " Popery in its Social Aspect" by 



" Garnet, the Jesuit, admitted that the Gunpowder Plot 
had been revealed to him in confession, but denied that he 
was guilty in the matter. Conscientiously, as a Romanist, 
he could thus deny, though he was guilty of a full par- 
ticipation in the diabolical conspiracy, for the crime ap- 
peared to himself to be free from blame ; and, besides, he 
was bound to keep it secret. Liguori states that the 
accused or witness, legitimately interrogated, cannot use 
equivocation, except in the following case, which is well 
worthy of observation : — ' Make an exception in a trial 
where the crime is altogether concealed, for then he can — yea, 
the witness is bound to say that the accused did not commit 
the crime.' It seems that when the crime is ' altogether 
concealed ' (omnino occultum), the witness may, or rather is 
bound to say that the accused did not commit the crime. 
It seems that Eomanism is only honest when it is necessary 
to save appearances" — lb. 

"True, the Church of England has withered branches! 
True birds of prey have made their nests in her, and ugly 
insects ramp upon her surface : still her sap is not poison ; 
her smell is not rottenness ; her shadow is not pestilential ! 
But Eome ! the Upas Eome ! An ocean is scarcely a safe- 
guard from her contagion. ' In Catholic countries the first 
place is given to the supernatural, and but the second to 
the mere neighbourly virtues.' That is to say, the priest 
first, and then husband, father, mother, and the rest. 
First the commandments of the Church of Eome, then 



82 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

those of nature, that is, of God. First vows in some con- 
fraternity, then household duties, truth, and allegiance. 
Down with such ' merely neighbourly virtues ' as a wife's 
loyalty, a child's obedience, a subject's honour! Up with 
something ' supernatural ! ' Supernatural, not as aided by 
heavenly grace, but as contra- distinguished to natural 
duties, to duties to our fellow man ; not as fruits of the gift 
of charity, but as opposed to them, as unnatural, as re- 
quiring some help of fallen angel to attain to. This is the 
key that opens the mystery of the ' Lives of Saints ! ' 
This the crucible where vice and folly thrown in under 
1 direction ' are transmuted into virtue. " — Appendix. i ' Cases 
of Conscience" — Wiseman v. Pascal the Younger. 

A Roman Catholic priest, the Rev. L. Morrissy, of 
Ireland, wrote a book, entitled, " A Development of 
the Cruel and Inquisitorial System of the 
Court of Rome in Ireland, and of its particular 
operations in the case of the author." 

In this work the Author gives a list of principles 
which he asserts to be maintained by all the Roman 
Catholic ecclesiastics in Ireland, from the bulls of twelve 
Popes, all bearing out the same principles, which are 
developed in the Papal Canon Law, as now taught at 
Maynooth, and to all priests in Ireland ; laws of intole- 
rance, persecution, and extermination of heretics, confis- 
cation of their property, right to absolve subjects from 
oaths of allegiance, and to depose heretical monarchs, 
&c, &c. Priest Morrissy testifies that he was present at 
the consecration of a Roman Catholic bishop, and heard 
him swear the oath containing the clause: — "I will 
persecute and fight against all heretics, schismatics, and 
rebels to our Lord the Pope and his successors." And, 
" I will receive the Apostolic or Papal mandates, and 
will put them most diligently into execution." These 
statements are found in this work of Morrissy's. He 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 83 

asserts that in the diocese of Ossoiy, where he was 
parish priest, the priests " were bound to appear before 
his lordship (their bishop) and bind themselves by a 
solemn oath to become ministers of the Holy Inquisition, 
as well as of the Holy Grospel." 

In Part II., p. 69, this remarkable sentence occurs, 
thus printed in Italic : — 

"Let Government grant the Catholic claims, and they ivill 
unsheath the Inquisitorial sword, and unveil the rack and torture. 
Let the Government give them unqualified emancipation, and 
they will sap the very foundation of the British constitution. 
Let our Government admit Roman Catholic bishops into the 
Imperial Souse of Parliament, and they will establish the Holy 
Inquisition in the British JEmpire." 

These quotations are placed here to follow what was 
written under the head of " having the name of Pro- 
testantism while destitute of its principle, &c, &c," 
with a view of showing the alarming and subtle nature 
of sin, which must, if not conquered through grace, 
conquer the wisest amongst the children of men. The 
desperate wickedness of the heart so distorts the under- 
standing, that "the standing, the walking, and the 
sitting," run their course, while the sinner, thus growing 
in sin, grows also in blindness to his case, with hardness 
and pride of heart. 

The following speech has been extensively read and 
discussed, but it is well worth reprinting. It contains 
a number of stubborn facts, and, although they are 
willingly unheeded, or forgotten by many, they are 
still practically in full force, and not likely to be for- 
gotten by the ten thousand ladies who are shut up in the 
two hundred convents now existing in England. 

g 2 



84 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHEK SIGNS. 

' ' During the former debate, attention was drawn to the 
society of the Oratorians, and a petition had been pre- 
sented to the House by the Eev. Mr. Harrison, a clergy- 
man of Bagbrooke, Northamptonshire, complaining that 
his son, a minor, who had been captain of Westminster 
School, had been seduced into that establishment, contrary 
to his parental authority, and kept there in defiance of his 
will, and had been induced to enter that monastic order to 
the detriment of his prospects in life. He knew not why, 
but the committee of selection had not thought proper to 
publish this petition in their report; although, in his 
opinion, a more important petition had seldom been pre- 
sented to that House. The petition had been presented by 
the honourable member for Northamptonshire, the repre- 
sentative of that injured gentleman. The petition was to 
the effect that petitioner's son had been introduced to 
Father John Bowden, sho a n over the establishment, and 
confessed and baptised at nine o'clock at night. Having 
been consulted by Mr. Harrison, he recommended him to 
seek legal advice, in order that his statement might bear 
the strictest investigation; and as his suggestion had 
been adopted he thought the petition was worthy the atten- 
tion of the House. 

11 He wished to refer to another circumstance connected 
with the former debate. The then Attorney- General for 
Ireland said that everybody belonging to his creed (the 
Roman Catholic) must be aware that the Brompton 
Oratory did not come within the law. Those connected 
with that order were not bound together by a vow, but 
were secular priests, and not bound to remain together for 
agle hour, each holding his property and being capable 
of disposing of it as he pleased. Upon this statement he 
(Mr. Newdegate) would remark that, when the case of this 
order had been brought before the High Court of Genoa, 
in 1855, for the purpose of ascertaining whether the order 
came within the law prohibiting monasteries in Italy, the 
judgment of the court was to the effect that the order did 
not come within the law. But on a subsequent occasion 
tho court decided that this order was embraced by the law 
forbidding monasteries in Italy. 

"The case of Miss M'Dormot was also likely to come 
under the oognizance of a court of law, and had been 
already investigated by the magistrates. He asked the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 85 

House for a committee of inquiry, as it was notorious to 
everybody that of late years there had been an enormous 
and unprecedented increase of monastic and conventual es- 
tablishments, Last session he had asked for a return, 
which would give some information as to the localities of 
those establishments, the character of their inmates, and 
the nature of their organisation. The Home Secretary 
then told him that he would find the information in the 
Registrar- General's Office. He applied there, and there 
were no such documents. That House, acting in the 
spirit of the law of 1829, took cognizance of the houses 
of women. The Act of 1829 strictly forbade seminaries 
and houses of Jesuits, and other religious orders of the 
Church of Rome ; and the clauses of that Act were re- 
enacted in the Act of 1860, for the protection and due 
administration of Roman Catholic charities. These clauses 
were not, therefore, obsolete, as they had been revised five 
years ago. 

"But it was argued that those were private establish- 
ments, with which it was no more justifiable to inter- 
fere than with private establishments of Roman Catholic 
families. But Parliament had provided for property 
belonging to convents, as if it were possessed by a quasi 
corporation, and had prohibited the possession of property 
by male monastic orders ; the last session an Act had been 
passed for the registration of burials within the precincts 
of monasteries. The assertion that they were private 
establishments came too late. The law of France pro- 
hibited the taking of monastic vows beyond a period of five 
years ; and in Prussia the Crown possessed the power of 
revising monastic and conventual establishments. Italy 
had found it necessary for the establishment of her freedom 
to suppress a large number of these monastic institutions, 
and for the sake of her morality to suppress a large num- 
ber of her convents. Italy, in 1863, was but following the 
example of England at the time of the Reformation, of 
France in 1798, and of Spain — bigoted Spain — in 1837. 
With such a movement on the continent, he trusted that 
the Parliament of England would forgive him if, in the 
face of so rapid an increase of these establishments, he 
called on them to make some inquiry as to the locality in 
which they were to be found, and to the character of the 
orders by which they were held, and the nature of the 



86 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

discipline which was carried out amongst the inmates. He 
would give the House some proof of the increase of those 
establishments. He found that in England and Wales 
there were, in 1841, of religious houses of men but 1, of 
convents 16, of colleges 9; in 1851 there were religious 
houses of men 17, convents 53, colleges 10. How stood 
the case in 1865 ? Why, of religious houses of men there 
were 58, of convents 187, and colleges 10. If to the 
account he added 14 for Scotland, there were 201 convents 
already established in this country, possessing, to his 
knowledge, in the Midland Counties, considerable real 
property as well, as he believed, personal estate. He 
wished to dispel the illusion that this motion on his part 
was a mere ebullition of Protestant bigotry. He would 
for one moment recall the attention of hon. members to 
some passages in the history of their own country, which 
he thought must have escaped their attention. He found 
in the works of Lord Lyttelton — the ancestor of the present 
noble and accomplished peer — that in the reign of Henry 
II. the increase of these establishments was about as rapid 
as that which had taken place now, and was considered as 
a grievous detriment to the country. The hon. member 
quoted from the works in question, as well as from 
Kennett's 'Cases,' Lingard, Blackstone, and Hallam, to 
prove the number and wealth of these religious establish- 
ments, their admitted licentiousness, and the natural de- 
moralization which they produced. 

" After thanking the House for having listened to these 
extracts, the hon. member went on by asking, was the 
suppression of the monasteries previous to the Reformation 
the act of Henry VIII. alone ? Why, the other day, in a 
lecture at Bath, the Rev. Hobart Seymour, whose know- 
ledge of the subject was exceeded by no one, gave a full 
account of the process. In the reign of the eminently 
Catholic King Henry VII., Cardinal Morton, an English 
cardinal, applied to the Pope for permission to suppress a 
number of monasteries. Mr. Seymour had sent him an 
extract from the Pope's bull and a copy of Cardinal 
Morton's letter addressed to the bishops in England, and 
there was nothing in the reports of the commissioners in 
the time of Henry VIII. which conveyed in terms more 
explicit and powerful the evidence of the deep corruption 
which prevailed in those institutions. It declared that 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 87 

nuns were violated and murders committed ; and when he 
was told that an objection so generally felt to those institu- 
tions was mere Protestant prejudice, he trusted the House 
would forgive him for recalling those historical facts to the 
memory of Catholics, and for stating that it was an English 
cardinal who first proposed, and that it was the Pope who 
sanctioned the first suppression of the monasteries in the 
reign of Henry VII. Henry YIIL was a more eminently Ca- 
tholic king than any sovereign of his time. Even the Pope 
himself endowed him with the title of Defensor Fidei ; and, 
being an accomplished man, he wrote an answer to Luther. 
Henry YIIL, through Wolsey, applied for power to sup- 
press the monasteries. The cardinal agreed, and obtained 
the sanction and authority of the Pope. To tell, therefore, 
the Chancellor of the Exchequer and himself, who had been 
educated at Christchurch, that they did not know whence 
the funds were derived for the foundation of that noble 
establishment was presuming a little too much upon their 
want of historical research. It was Cardinal Wolsey, as 
the- Pope's legate, who took the funds from the monasteries 
to found Christchurch, and a blessed Work it was. There- 
fore, when he asked the House to pay some attention to 
the rapid increase of that which, in the estimation of two 
English cardinals and two successive popes before the Re- 
formation, was considered the increase of a national disease, 
he hoped hon. members would not think him presumptuous 
when he expressed the strong public feeling which existed 
that it was the duty of the Legislature to inform itself by 
its own inquiry as to an increase which caused so much 
uneasiness throughout the land. If the Legislature per- 
sistently ignored the existence of those establishments, and 
only trusted to the casual information which with extreme 
difficulty was procured as to certain malpractices which had 
come to light ; if the Legislature continued in this state of 
wilful obtusity, was it not inevitable that, when the Catholic 
countries of the Continent found it necessary to eject the 
inmates of those establishments from their shores, they 
would find a harbour here, and that we should inherit the 
evils from which the Continent was rapidly freeing itself? 
Foreign monks and nuns came here either to existing 
establishments, or to found establishments of their own. 
Thus we had growing up in this country the very evil aimed 
at and successfully suppressed by Henry Y. in the thirteenth 



88 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

century, -when the rapid increase of establishments of foreign 
monks and nuns had to be stopped. It was not reasonable 
to ask the House to ignore such facts. The public anxiety 
was evinced by the number of their petitions. 

"He would touch for one moment on the case of Miss 
M'Dermot. The evidence was that she, being then a minor, 
aged fifteen, was withdrawn from her natural protector. 
The case came before a metropolitan magistrate, Mr. Selfe, 
who declared that the law did not give him power to enforce 
the restitution of the child to her parent. Mr. Selfe used, 
in the kindness of his heart, more private exhortation than 
his official and judicial position justified, to accomplish an 
object which his humanity dictated. It was in evidence 
how the law was resisted, and how the priests who had 
gained possession of this young girl calumniated her cha- 
racter and the character of her mother. That was a weapon 
used in such a spirit that if it was not restrained — if the 
characters of women were to be calumniated for the purpose 
of coercing them into submission — though he trusted the 
spirit of order among Englishmen to a great extent, he 
warned the house not to trust that there would be no viola- 
tion of the peace. He had only yestesday received the ac- 
count of a young man being carried off, an undergraduate 
of Cambridge, a few years ago, to a monastery in a distant 
country. His brothers heard of it. They went to the 
monastery and told the superior that this youth was a 
minor, and as his nearest of kin they claimed him. The 
superior resisted. The brothers said, 'We do not come 
here to violate the law ; we know you have got in your 
possession our brother, who is a minor: we have more 
Mends here, and if you do not give him up we will take 
him.' The superior then yielded ; but he (Mr. Newdegate) 
would warn the house that if that stress was put upon 
Englishmen they would break loose. If children were 
withheld from their parents, or from their elder brethren 
who stood in loco parentis, they would find that English 
people would, as in many cases they had, take the law into 
their own hands. Then, again, there was the case of Miss 
Ryan, who was taken from a conventual establishment in 
this city, and transferred to a lunatic asylum in Belgium, 
screaming, struggling, and imploring the help of every 
passer-by. Jt was admitted by the Government that the 
moans of testing the sanity or insanity of this poor girl 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 89 

which, the law prescribed had never been complied with. 
It had been stated that Dr. Miller, a distinguished medical 
practitioner, had given a certificate ; but he (Mr. Newde- 
gate) held a letter in his hand from Dr. Miller stating that 
he had given no certificate at all. He knew not what the 
Government must do in this case. The corporation of 
Dover, who most properly interfered, stated that the Go- 
vernment and the law officers of the crown admit that the 
law had been violated and set at nought, but they say it 
was not done with a bad intention. Such things tried the 
patience of Englishmen. They were, of all nations in the 
world, the most orderly and the most attached to the law ; 
but once let them feel that there is some organisation in 
this country which, could defy the law, and it would be diffi- 
cult to restrain them. When once John Bull turned into a 
bull-dog he was very loath to leave his hold. The cases of 
Miss M'Dermot and Miss Ryan were known, but there was 
a case of very much graver interest, resting on direct sworn 
evidence, of which he believed neither the public nor that 
House were cognisant. There were monasteries in the mid- 
land counties, and one in North Warwickshire. He knew 
in the case of that one that not only were there under- 
ground cells, but that they had strong doors, and very good 
locks on them. He knew the man who made those doors, 
and put on the locks — a very estimable man, now dead. 
The man was told the locks were not good enough, and 
accordingly he went to Birmingham and procured better 
locks, and I believe, from my knowledge of the trade, that 
these were most admirable locks. 

" Many years ago there was an escape from this convent. 
A poor nun got across the road and half-way across the 
next field. She was, however, captured and forced back 
into the convent. All we knew was that there were 1 5 cwts. 
of iron bars to those windows, and the public were very 
uneasy. The neighbours did not like their ways, and there 
was a close watch. What happened ? All at once a priest 
connected with the convent became wonderfully communi- 
cative. He said it was quite true that the discipline was 
frightfully severe, and he was not in the least surprised 
that there was an attempt at an escape ; that he was going 
to give up his situation ; that he would be no longer con- 
nected with such an establishment; that the order was 
about to be changed ; that nuns of a less severe order were 



90 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

to succeed; and so the whole community disappeared — 
nuns, priests, confessors, and all. 

" Then there was the case in Derby. There the corpora- 
tion were uneasy because they found there were burials 
within the convent walls, and the deaths were not regis- 
tered. The whole case was brought before the corporation 
and the Home Secretary. The same thing happened as at 
Alliston; the community was removed, and something 
more was done — the convent was pulled down. There 
was another case ; and here he spoke from sworn affidavits. 
In February, 1857, it became known that a nun of a 
Benedictine order had escaped from a Benedictine priory 
at Oolwich, in Staffordshire. She was seen at the back of 
the convent upon the railway line. She went to the 
pointsman first, and then to the station-master. She was 
described as dreadfully emaciated, poorly clad, and in the 
greatest state of terror. She concealed herself there for 
some time. She then went to Stafford, and at Stafford it 
was a very fortunate circumstance that an old general 
officer was at the station and saw her. She went on to 
Birmingham. That night a telegraphic message passed 
along the line that Dr. IJllathorne would bring her back. 
He would not name any name except this. He did so. 
The circumstance of her being brought back closely veiled 
and closely watched created an uneasiness. They did not 
like these things in the midland counties. It was soon 
after the discovery and conviction of the poisoner Palmer. 
The Government would not allow . us in the midland 
counties to try that man. He was tried in London, con- 
victed, and hung. Well, that produced a good deal of 
excitement in the neighbourhood, and the people were 
more watchful in consequence, and there was most extreme 
difficulty of procuring evidence in the case of this nun. He 
had a complete narrative of what was done, written by a 
person whom he would not name, though he had the 
solicitor's name who took this matter up in the spirit of 
an Englishman. lie had never seen this woman, but he 
was determined from all he had heard in the neighbour- 
hood that the circumstances of the case should be brought 
out. He m;is appointed by the Protestant Alliance in 
London. Well, the priests and those connected with this 
convent throughout the neighbourhood threatened in the 
most malignant terms every person who gave evidence. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 91 

They obtained the dismissal of the clerk through whom 
the telegraphic message was sent. It was a most happy 
circumstance that he was absent from his post at the 
moment when the message came, and had left another 
person to transmit the message. That person was not 
bound by the obligation of secrecy, and it was through 
him that the superintendent of police found out the name 
of the person in this case. It was not known for months, 
and never would have been known had it not been for this 
happy accident. After Inspector Field came down, the 
terror which had been excited subsided, and the people 
began to speak out. Application was made to the Court 
of Queen's Bench for a writ of habeas corpus. 

" He would give them an account of what occurred before 
that court, and the House would see the impression pro- 
duced on that excellent judge, Judge Wightman. The 
evidence being complete, the application was made, and 
the counsel agreed to abide by the decision of the judge. 
His lordship took the affidavits home with him, and after 
considering them for two weeks, he recommended that 
before the writ was granted application should be made at 
the convent for permission to see the lady. The witnesses 
went, and arrived there on the 4th of July. After waiting 
some time they saw the lady superior, by whom they were 
told without hesitation, but much to their surprise, that 
the lady they inquired for had gone to Staple Hill, near 
Wimborne, in Dorsetshire. They accordingly went there. 
There were the aged general officer who first saw the nun, 
and his wife, and the gentleman who wrote the work he 
was quoting. On arrival they found this convent to be of 
an apparently different description. The telegraph, he 
believed, had been at work. They applied to see the nun, 
and they did see her. They told her that for months the 
object they had in view was her rescue, and they had come 
there for no other purpose, and they asked her to treat 
them with candour. She gave an earnest look, and said 
she did not know how to thank such kind friends. They 
promised to give her all the assistance she wished to have. 
She said no, she had no wish to leave now ; since she had 
been there she had been treated so kindly that it would be 
ingratitude in her to leave. They had treated her, she 
said, like a sister, and she must not leave now. She 
did not like to leave, because she believed she had an 



92 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

earnest desire to be devoted to the service of God. They 
saw that her resolution was taken, and it was in vain to 
shake it. She said, ' What could I do if I left ? All my 
relations and friends are Eoman Catholics, and would turn 
their backs upon rae ; and what could I do to live ? ' The 
poor, terror-stricken, emaciated nun had been completely 
changed in appearance, and was apparently comfortable 
and happy. But this was not all the case. It was na- 
turally inquired why should this nun escape ; and when it 
was found that the protection of the English law and an 
inquiry in the Court of Queen's Bench was obtained, facts 
came out of which he would give some indication to the 
House. In the conversation they had with the nun at 
Staple Hill they informed her of the habeas corpus, which 
astonished and amused her ; and they told her that im- 
portant evidence was obtained with respect to certain doings 
in the convent. They marked the expression on her face. 
They asked her if there were cells called grottoes, and if 
she had seen them. She was silent. They asked her if 

she knew a nun named Miss . She asked if Miss 

had been in the convent school, and then said she had 
some recollection of her. They then said that witnesses 
had stated that they had seen a nun put in the cellar under 
the convent, and that she was found dead there. They 
asked her if she ever knew such was the case. She re- 
mained silent. They saw that her silence was equivalent 
to admission, and again they asked her if she had seen a 
nun put into a cellar. Again she was silent. They did 
not press her again, as they saw her silence was resolute, 
and it was to them a sufficient proof of the scholar's state- 
ment. That statement was that the greatest severity was 
practised in that convent. She had seen nuns in prison, 
she had known them kept short of food, and she had known 
one nun forced down into this underground cell, and that, 
to the best of her belief, she never came out again alive. 
She attended the services at her funeral, and saw the grave 
close over her. These statements were corroborated by the 
evidence of twenty-seven witnesses who were examined. It 
was proved that there were burials within the precincts of 
the convent that were not placed on the register of deaths. 
1 1 was proved that coffins were seldom made out of the con- 
vent, and that oarpenters were employed inside the convent 
to make oirdinary packing-cases, in which bodies were placed 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 93 

for burial. It was known that the most malignant threats 
were used in the convent to prevent evidence. It was a fact 
that, until Inspector Field came down, very few of the wit- 
nesses could be induced to speak. He asked if he had not 
said enough now to induce the House to grant a committee 
to ascertain the character of these establishments. The 
convent at Colwich, up to 1857, was a cloistered convent 
of one of the severest orders. The convent at Wimborne 
seemed to be a happy home. But what did that prove if 
there were other convents which realized Liguori's de- 
scription of ' hell upon earth ? ' Such were the facts he 
was prepared to prove by the production of these affidavits ; 
and he asked the House respectfully to grant this committee 
for the purpose of ascertaining the locality, the character, 
and the increase of these establishments. He did not ask 
the House to permit this committee even to suggest a re- 
medy, but to furnish the House with information which 
might enable the House in its wisdom to devise some 
means for the better protection of one class of her Majesty's 
subjects." — Mr. New cleg ate, 3LP., March, 1865. 

" Shall I not visit for these things ? saith the Lord." 
Who amongst the people are ready for the coming 
storm which is stealthily, but systematically, advancing, 
when the persecutors of all truth and righteousness 
shall come forth in their true characters to do their 
worst. How many, being found in Christ, and " having 
done all, " shall "stand"? Whatever outward garb 
may now be worn — Protestantism alias Eomanism, or 
such like — the coming tribulation will rend asunder, 
and every cloak of deception will be scattered to the 
winds, leaving each miserable deceiver discovered, 
naked and convicted, panic-struck and overwhelmed ! 
Fierce persecution will, we believe, develop. " The 
father shall be divided against the son, and the son 
against the father ; the mother against the daughter, 
and the daughter against the mother ; the mother-in- 
law against the daughter-in-law, and the daughter-in- 



94 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

law against the mother-in-law. And He said also to 
the people, When ye see a cloud rise out of the west, 
straightway ye say, There cometh a shower : and so it 
is. And when ye see the south wind blow, ye say 
there will be heat : and it cometh to pass. Ye hypo- 
crites ! ye can discern the face of the sky and of the 
earth ; but how is it ye do not discern this time ? Yea, 
and why even of yourselves judge ye not what is right? 
When thou goest with thine adversary to the magis- 
trate, as thou art in the way, give diligence that thou 
mayest be delivered from him ; lest he hale thee to the 
judge, and the judge deliver thee to the officer, and the 
officer cast thee into prison. I tell thee thou shalt not 
depart from thence till thou has paid the very last- 
mite" (Luke xii. 53 — 59). Protestants! take warning, 
and learn by the history of the past times what we may 
gather from the present. Arouse yourselves out of that 
apathy which does not like to be disturbed with evil 
forebodings. Will your unwillingness to know the 
truth delay or mitigate the storm ? When you find 
yourselves in a fire, will the fact of your having added 
to the fuel lessen your sufferings ? Or will the remorse 
of a guilty conscience be removed by the keen remem- 
brance of unfaithfulness, false palliatives, and deter- 
mination not to be informed, and disturbed ? Popery 
is a ravening beast, " a roaring lion," ready to seize 
upon its prey, and to devour all that is good and 
sacred. 

''Consult, therefore, the law of self-preservation, and 
common sense will oppose itself to that enemy who now, 
with tho subtlety of the serpent, is winding his deadly coils 
around the whole body politic. Study the history of the 
Jesuits (the reader is referred to an excellent work by 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 95 

T. H. Usborne, Esq., entitled 'The Jesuits'), and ob- 
serve their present successful movement. Are they not, 
with a cunning and an adroitness peculiar to their order, 
insinuating themselves into places of trust and power, 
in the Government, in the army, in the navy, the post- 
office, the police, the universities, and, as sisters of mercy, 
and, under every disguise, undermining the religion 
and loyalty of the country ? Auricular confession is being 
made to Puseyite clergymen, who, adopting the style of 
1 the mother of harlots, 7 corrupt the young and virtuous, 
and relieve the guilty from remorse." — "No JPopery." 
Seeley, Fleet Street. 

Those who make a compact with such antagonistic 
principles are not in a position to enjoy for themselves, 
or to aim at a higher standard for the good of others, 
than false expediency. By and by they will be forced 
to change their minds, because unfaithfulness and sin 
must result in detection and humiliation, and reap its 
own fruit — shame and misery. Doubtless some of you 
say, " This view will lead to controversy and offence." 
"With all our heart we reply, Grod grant it may ! The 
dead formalism that exists in all positions, and in all 
teaching where controversy is viewed as " uncharitable " 
and " injudicious," we utterly condemn. "We are quite 
of opinion that if controversy does not often win souls, 
false charity, liberalism, blindness to error, fear of 
offence, hoping for the best, has destroyed thousands. 

"We are not yet exposed to persecution in the whole 
practical sense of that word, but we are threatened with 
disturbance and warfare at home and in the distance, 
while we are faithful to the truth, and, denying all else, 
take the "Word of Grod alone as our guide, and Christ 
alone as our example. 

But were this persecution to commence its attacks 
upon us, are we ready to maintain our high calling, 



96 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

and to "contend for the faith once delivered to the 
saints?" or would any of us who now profess to have 
Christ as our master be ready to make our peace with 
Eome? 

" Foxe's Book of Martyrs " may be read and re-read 
with advantage in these days. It is good to know 
what " Christ, the hope of glory," will arm us for, and 
carry us through. 

"Bishop Latimer was once a bigoted Bomanist, but, 
through the instrumentality of Thomas Bilney, his views 
underwent a change, and he became an eminent preacher 
of Protestant truth. He fell under the displeasure of 
Mary, and was cast into prison with Eidley. After sundry 
examinations and conferences, which are recorded in 
'Foxe's Lives of the Martyrs,' he, with Eidley, was con- 
demned to death. Foxe describes their death as follows : — 

" ' Then they brought a lighted faggot, and laid it at Dr. Ridley's 
feet. Thereupon, Mr. Latimer said, "Be of good comfort, Mr. Eidley, 
and play the man ; we shall this day light such a candle, by God's grace, 
u/ JEngland, as, I trust, shall never be put out. ,f When Dr. Eidley saw 
the fire flaming up towards him, he cried, with a wonderful loud voice, 
" Into thy hands, Lord, I commend my spirit ;" and afterwards 
repeated this often, " Lord, Lord, receive my spirit." Mr. Latimer cried 
as vehemently on the other side, " Father of heaven, receive my 
60ul," who received the flame, as it were, embracing of it.' — Book of 
Martyrs. 

" Thomas Cranmer was born in Nottinghamshire, of an 
influential family. He was raised to the See of Canterbury 
by Henry VIII,, where he contributed much to the good 
work of Eeformation. In the reign of Mary he was 
deposed and degraded. In an evil moment, after long 
confinement, and with dread of death by fire in view, he 
was induced to sign a recantation, which he shortly after 
retracted, deploring his unhappy fall. His last end is thus 
described by Foxe : — 

" ' But when he came to the place where the holy bishops and martyrs 
of God, Bishops Latimer and Ridley were burnt before him for the con- 
fession of tlu 1 troth, kneeling down he prayed to God; and not long 
tarrying in his prayers, putting oil' his garments to his shirt, he pre- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 97 

pared himself for death. His shirt was made long down to his feet. 
His feet were bare ; likewise his head, when both his caps were off, was 
so bare that one hair could not be seen upon it. His beard was so long 
and thick that it covered his face with marvellous gravity ; and his 
reverend countenance moved the hearts both of his friends and enemies. 
He died with great constancy.' 

"Time would fail to tell of Wishart, Pliilpott, Saunders, 
and a host of others who gave their lives for the truth. 
Suffice it to say that hundreds of men and women, without 
regard to age or station, perished in the most cruel manner 
for the crime alone of adhering to the Bible. The acces- 
sion of Elizabeth to the throne, under Grod, saved the 
country ; and may we hold fast the privileges which were 
bought with the blood of the martyrs. Well may we cry 
1 No Popery? WeU may we fear the wrath of Grod for 
our unfaithfulness of truth. Strange infatuation that 
permits the admission of the adherents of such a system 
into place and power in a Protestant state." — Blakeney's 
" Popery in its Social Aspect" 

Weigh this solemn question well. Never did the 
Church of Christ live in days more perilous, sifting, 
and expectant. 

" All that dwell upon the earth shall worship him 
(the beast), whose names are not written in the book of 
life." No one shall be sustained through the foretold 
warfare but those who are " kept by the power of Grod 
through faith unto salvation." 

Look well to your credentials, watch and pray against 
being seduced until you stumble and fall. Subtle under- 
mining foes, Jesuits, and well-schooled entrappers of men, 
both learned and ignorant, amongst us are not wanting, 
and are plying their craft where little suspected. It 
may be of practical service to some in these days to 
read the following document, written by Liguori — 
venerated by the Church of Rome for his " sound truth 
and holiness." He contemplates two universal posi- 
tions — 1st. That of the Eomanist asked concerning his 

H 



98 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

religion ; 2nd. That of the Eomanist not ashed concern- 
ing his religion. 

" He who, being asked, either by private or public authority, is silent, 
or answers obscurely, or says that he does not wish to answer, that he is 
not justly interrogated, that he is not bound nor does he wish to speak 
to others what he himself may believe, and in Wee manner tergiversates, 
does not appear to deny the faith, but is unwilling to betray it. Whence, 
if thus he may be able to deliver himself from a troublesome investiga- 
tion, it is lawful ; for, generally, it is not true that he who is interro- 
gated by public authority is positively bound to profess the faith, unless 
when that is necessary, lest he may appear to those present to deny the 
faith. 

"When you are not asked concerning the faith, not only is it lawful, 
but often more conducive to the glory of God and the utility of your 
neighbour, to cover the faith than to confess it : for example, if concealed 
among heretics, you may accomplish a greater amount of good, or, if from 
the confession of the faith, more of evil would follow ; for example, great 
trouble, death, the hostility of a tyrant, the peril of defection if you 
should be tortured, whence it is often rash to offer oneself willingly." 

Dissimulation ivell-disguised is lawful, nay, even com- 
mendable, says the Saint, " for it is often more conducive 
to the glory of Grod and the utility of your neighbour 
to cover the faith than to confess it; for example, if 
concealed among heretics, you may accomplish a greater 
amount of good." 

In accordance with such principles, Eomish priests, 
wearing the garb of Protestant ministers, have laboured 
to propagate Eomish views. We have too much reason 
to believe that similar events are now taking place. 
"When we behold, on the one hand, the advocacy of the 
whole cycle of Eoman doctrine by some clergymen of 
the Protestant Church of England, and, on the other, 
men who profess to hold religious sentiments opposed 
in the extreme to Popery, yet allied closely with that 
Church for the attainment of her political advancement 
in these kingdoms, can we doubt that Jesuits in disguise 
lie concealed among Protestants, and that their influence 
is felt amongst men of all religious views ? 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 99 

"Lately a proposition was made by the Eev. George 
Spencer, a pervert to Eome, styled Father Ignatius — a 
name not unsuitable — that Eomanist, Catholic servants, 
of course dissembling their faith, should enter the service of 
Protestant families, specially to imbue the minds of such 
families, if possible, with Eomish sentiments. The pro- 
position was indeed worthy of an Ignatius, a true son of 
the Church of Eome. How often may the following case 
occur : — ' A devout Eomanist seeks for the office of tutor, or 
governess. He or she dissembles his or her principles, 
even if interrogated as to them. The appointment takes 
place, and the care of the children is entrusted, unknow- 
ingly, to a member of the Church of Eome. The tutor, or 
governess, disseminates unsound principles amongst the 
members of the family, and an advance is stealthily made, 
until, at length, unsound doctrine takes deep root in the 
hearts of the children. Members of the family and some 
of the children consequently join the Church of Eome, and 
bring sorrow upon their parents, who, too late, discover the 
source of their calamity, and mourn over the awful conse- 
quence of Eomish dissimulation. No family, no commu- 
nity, no church is safe from Eome. Her dissimulation 
renders her more than a match for Protestants, and would 
ensure her ultimate triumph, were there not One above 
1 'from whom no secrets are hid," and who bringeth the 
devices of unsanctified men to nought." — Blakeney's 
"Popery in its Social Aspect." 

In many instances when a Eomanist or Jesuit is 
placed in a family on false pretensions to work amongst 
Protestants, the secrecy on the part of such an one is 
kept on peril of worse than murderous threats. The 
result is that we hear from time to time of some young 
one, or even old one, renouncing Protestantism, and, 
yielding to the lies told, going over to Eome. Popery 
is unbounded in her accommodation. 

"In Germany, to hear the sermons of heretics, to attend 
at a funeral, to act as sponsor for a child in baptism, are 
not esteemed professing signs of the faith, or of compmnion 

H 2 



100 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

with the religious affairs of heretics. Hence, when there 
is no danger, scandal, or prohibition, if it is for a good 
cause, it is lawful." — Blakeney's "Popery in its Social 
Aspect" 

It may he well to substantiate the high authority 
given to these dogmas of the Church of Eome. The 
Roman Catholic Calendar, Dublin, contains the following 
statement of the canonization of Alphonsus Liguori, on 
May 26, 1839 :— 

" Together with his Holiness Gregory XVI., the principal 
actor, there were forty cardinals, 130 patriarchs, arch- 
bishops, and bishops, all the generals, superiors, and 
members of religious orders in Eome, about 17,000 clergy- 
men from various countries, several kings and queens of 
different states, an innumerable number of princes, dukes, 
earls, and about 250,000 of various other classes, indepen- 
dently of the inhabitants of Eome and its environs." 

This grand manifestation of darkness took place in 
the professed light and knowledge of our own century ! 
In the same Calendar we read that his works under- 
went a stringent examination, received unqualified 
approval, and after twenty rigorous trials by the rules 
of Urban VIII. and Benedict XIV., the absolute 
judgment was given that they did not contain " one 
word of censure." In a life of this Saint, published 
by Cardinal Wiseman, he speaks in the highest terms 
of his works, to which he adds, "he is celebrated 
throughout the world for his theological writings." 
This is decisive as to whether Cardinal Wiseman, and 
the Church of Eome universally, are changed or 
abated in their principles, modes of practice, and 
objects ! ! 



spiritualism and other signs. 101 

" Life in a Convent. 
" To the Editor of the Daily Telegraph. 

M Sir, — It seems to me tliat one of the most cheering 
signs of the prosperity of this country is to be found 
in the general disposition which Englishmen feel to 
abate or abolish abuses of all kinds, whether in Church 
or State. 

"I beg permission to call your earnest attention to a 
very great abuse, which is increasing every day in our 
midst, and yet remains entirely unchecked. I suppose no 
one will dispute that the Eoman Catholic Church is im- 
proving her position, and gaining a good many converts in 
this country. There are many more of her priests among 
us now than there were fifty years ago ; their influence is 
somewhat felt in society, and is beginning to tell upon the 
House of Commons. They are once more becoming an ag- 
gressive power in England, and we may be sure that any 
power given to them will be stretched to its utmost limits. 
Now, wherever there are many priests, care is taken that 
convents shall be established. I am sorry to say that their 
number is increasing every year. And I wish to inform 
those of your readers who may be ignorant of it, that 
Eomish priests, wherever they have the opportunity, are 
now making constant efforts to induce young English- 
women to take the veil. I am not using too strong lan- 
guage when I afiirm that many girls are ensnared into 
these convents. They have, most of them, only an im- 
perfect notion of the sort of life they will be required to 
lead. 

" After a probation as novices, during which time the 
idea of convent life is rendered attractive to them by arts 
which their superiors know well how to employ, they are 
induced to become veiled nuns. This step is practically 
quite irrevocable. From the day on which it is taken they 
are entirely lost to the outside world. In this way they 
are condemned to life-long imprisonment. Their escape is 
carefully prevented, even should they find reason bitterly 
to regret the choice which has, in many cases, been made 
in a moment of weakness or enthusiasm. They are under 
the complete control of the priests. They are compelled to 
confess every prohibited thought, word, and deed to men 
who, by a monstrous perversion of authority, are forbidden 



102 SPIRITUALISM AXD OTHER SIGNS. 

to marry. Their offences are often punished by penances of 
a degrading kind. All the terrors and all the attractions 
of a picturesque superstition are employed in order to gain 
the absolute submission of their will, and the complete 
surrender of their liberty of thought and action. In fact, 
these poor nuns are as destitute of the protection of English 
law as if they lived in the interior of Africa. Now, sir, I 
am describing no new state of things. All that is new 
about the convents in this country is the recent increase in 
their number. These institutions nourished in the full per- 
fection of their wickedness before the Reformation. They 
were then happily suppressed, along with many kindred 
abominations. And I think we are bound to listen to the 
warning voice of history, unless we think ourselves fated 
to ' turn perpetually within the same circle of passions and 
misfortunes.' At the time of the Reformation there was 
issued a royal commission, directing a thorough inspection 
of these so-called religious houses. What were the facts 
disclosed ? Bishop Burnett, quoting from the report made 
to the King and Parliament by the royal commissioners, 
which report he himself had seen, tells us that ' such was 
the lewdness of the confessors of nunneries, and the great 
corruption of that state, that whole houses were found in 
which the nuns were almost all with child.' He further 
says, that in a hundred and forty-four convents that were 
inspected ' brutal practices ' prevailed, equal to ' the abomi- 
nations of Sodom,' not fit to be spoken of. Sir, I ask any 
one who reads about these results of what I may call a 
system of consecrated seduction, whether it is reasonable 
to expect that convents, which at the time of their last in- 
spection were hotbeds of vice, and altogether c a mystery 
of iniquity,' are at this time retreats sacred to the practice 
of piety and the protection of purity? No. Vice and 
superstition are twin-sisters. We may always expect to 
find them allied in one shape or another. 

" Of course it would be quite unfair to condemn any set 
of men indiscriminately. None can doubt that some pious 
priests are able to reach that degree of virtue and self- 
denial which, if it were universal among them, would go 
far to justify their rule of celibacy. But no set of men are 
fit to be trusted with irresponsible power over their fellow - 
creatures. And that kind of power is fully exercised, 
without any liindrance, over young women who have been 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 103 

persuaded to immure themselves in nunneries. When men 
are conscious of rectitude, they never fear inquiry into their 
proceedings. Do the Romish priests invite inquiry into the 
subject of which this letter treats? On the contrary, they 
oppose it with all their might. It must not be forgotten 
that the members of the Ultramontane party, both in Par- 
liament and out of it, are devoted to priestly interests. 
Obedience to their spirtual directors is considered by these 
men to be one of the highest of Christian virtues. It is 
fresh in my recollection how, when a motion was made in 
Parliament not long ago for inquiry into the state of reli- 
gious houses, Lord E. Howard got up on behalf of the 
priestly party, and, by a clever evasion of the question 
before the house, contrived to divert the minds of members 
from a subject of discussion which his spiritual guides 
might possibly have found highly unpalatable. Our duty, 
however, is plain. Let public opinion pronounce itself 
strongly against institutions which nourish in secrecy and 
obscurity, sheltering much that will not bear the light of 
day. I beg to submit to your judgment whether a careful 
inquiry into the present condition of nunneries in this 
country be not urgently needed; or whether we are to 
tolerate the imprisonment of English girls in places from 
which they have no means of escaping, and where they are 
entirely under the control of unmarried priests. 

" In Italy the Government has lately abolished a number 
of these houses, to the great rage of the priests and to the 
great relief of the people. Does England intend to foster 
abuses which even Italy is shaking off? I should hope 
not. Let us, then, by all constitutional means, endeavour 
to move our Government and Legislature to action in this 
matter. Our newspapers give their powerful votes fear- 
lessly in favour of reform, where reform is needed; and 
with your help, sir, much may be done to mitigate the 
dire abuse concerning which I have written. Let us put a 
stop, if we can, to the growth of an un-English and un- 
natural institution. Let us chivalrously interfere on behalf 
of some of our countrywomen who are silently appealing to 
us for protection. I have faith enough in the manly and 
truthful spirit of my countrymen to believe that an appeal 
of this sort will not be entirely neglected. 

"I am, sir, yours, &c, 

"A Young Englishman." 



104 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

It is thought expedient to shake up the memories of 
the old, aud to instruct the minds of the young ; there- 
fore some of these extracts are not, we think, out of 
place, although it may be supposed that such things 
have passed away with by-gone ages. 

From the " Eoman Pontifical," restored and edited 
by order of Clement VIII. and Urban VIII., Supreme 
Pontiffs, part first, we extract the following form of 
cursing, intended for use against those who should 
attempt to remove a nun from the cloister : — 

CURSE FROM THE " ROMAN PONTIFICAL" AGAINST THOSE WHO 
INTERFERE WITH NUNS. 

" By authority of Almighty God, and of His holy apostles 
Peter and Paul, we solemnly forbid, under the curse of 
anathema, that any one draw away these present virgins, 
or holy nuns, from the divine service, to which they have 
devoted themselves under the banner of chastity ; or that 
any one purloin their goods, or be a hindrance to their 
possessing them unmolested. But if any one shall dare 
to attempt such a thing, let him be accursed at home and 
abroad ; accursed in the city and in the field ; accursed in 
waking and sleeping ; accursed in eating and drinking ; 
accursed in walking and sitting ; accursed in his flesh and 
his bones ; and from the sole of his foot to the crown 
of his head, let him have no soundness. Come upon him 
the malediction which, by Moses in the law, the Lord hath 
laid on the sons of iniquity. Be his name blotted out from 
the book of the living, and not be written with the righteous. 
His portion and inheritance be with Cain, the fratricide ; 
with Dathan and Abiram ; with Ananias and Sapphira ; 
with Simon the sorcerer, and Judas the traitor ; with those 
who have said to God, ' Depart from us, we desire not the 
knowledge of thy ways.' Let him perish in the day of 
judgment; and let everlasting fire devour him with the 
devil and his angels ; unless he make restitution, and come 
to amendment. So be it ! So be it ! " 



SPIRITUALISM AXD OTHER SIGNS. 



105 



No. 


of Canons. No 


of Curses 


1. On Justification 


33 


33 


2. On the Sacraments . 


13 


13 


3. On Baptism 


14 


14 


4. On Confirmation 


3 


3 


5. On the Eucharist 


10 


10 


6. On Penance 


15 


15 


7. On Extreme Unction 


4 


4 


8. On Communion 


4 


4 


9. On the Sacrifice of the Mass 


9 


9 


10. On Orders 


8 


8 


11. On Matrimony . 


12 


12 



Total of Canons and Curses 



125 



125 



In all ONE HUNDEED AND TWENTY-EIYE curses 
by the Romish Council of Trent ! ! ! 

" The adversary is disguised in the Roman Church (as 
he is now also in the English Church), being arrayed as 
1 an angel of light? And the minds of men are deceived 
through the surplice and the ' holy garments ' which cover 
the ' abominations ' that lie concealed from the public view. 
Happy, thrice happy, and honoured are those who, in the 
simplicity and sincerity of God's truth, 'make war ' against 
the great apostate of the latter ages, the avowed hater and 
rejecter of the Word of God, delivered to us by Peter and 
by Paul, to ' contend for ' and to keep. 

"There is a subject which I have often desired to see 
more prominently noticed in our Protestant periodicals, 
one that is not (or has not been) so much regarded by the 
Christian public as it deserves to be. Rarely or ever do we 
hear it alluded to in the ordinary or united prayer-meetings 
of the people of God. I refer to the subject of Roman 
convents and nunneries. We see the Jew, the slave, the 
persecuted Protestant, the fallen and unfortunate, all thought 
of They are sought for, cared for, supplicated for. But 
who seeks or who intercedes for the thousands and ten 
thousands oppressed and betrayed females in convents ? — 
the convents of England and Ireland, as well as those of 
our colonies generally. Is not this a subject for the sym- 
pathies and for the efforts of the Church of God ? Is it not 
a subject for the ardent and united supplications of the 
Church of Christ, on behalf of our countrywomen and 
others who are suffering under the iron yoke and tyranny 
of Rome and her priesthood ? Many of the cases in the 



106 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGXS. 

nunneries are cognizable only in the heart of G-od, and in 
the court and tribunal of heaven. Will not God interpose 
at the wisely-directed efforts of his people and at their 
united prayers ? And is it not the duty of the Christian 
Church, and of Christians of every sect, as compassionate 
burden-bearers of the woes of the human family, to take up 
this neglected cause ? God may do so, and wipe away, 
perhaps, some of the bitterest tears that are shed on earth. 

" The atrocious facts that occasionally come to light on 
this subject, show us that the time is come (and more than 
come!) for both God and man to interpose; and that 
England ought not to be so quiet as she is upon this 
subject. 

"What, in many instances, are convents but Roman 
prison-houses, where free-born females are immured at the 
pleasure of their captors, and for their pleasure ? The 
nuns are free subjects of their respective countries, whether 
England or the colonies; but imprisoned by a licentious 
priesthood, their national privileges and rights are denied 
them. Many of these have been induced (or seduced) to 
believe that in renouncing the world they were about to 
dedicate themselves to lives of unspotted chastity and 
holiness ; but have found themselves deceived and betrayed 
when too late, and when remedy is impracticable. Once 
in the toils of Eome, as a captive bird in the ' fowler's net,' 
the fortune, the power, and the freedom of these poor 
females are gone, and their return to society, or to their 
friends, is counteracted and prevented, however earnestly 
they may desire it. Without question many are the 
captives in the British dominions, suffering under Popish 
shackles, and vainly groaning for relief. How many pure, 
innocent-minded females take the convent veil, and commit 
themselves to the care of men, whose only object is the 
full, unreserved possession of their wealth and persons. It 
is a sad truth, it is a startling fact, that the government of 
England affords no relief to the inmates of Roman Catholic 
nunneries. Foreign governments (even Papal governments) 
protect their defenceless nuns. Prussia, Austria, Bavaria, 
France, have all stringent laws protecting the liberties of 
their nuns, and giving power to the civil authorities to 
inspect convents. In both Russia and Bavaria any re- 
ligious recluse is at liberty to appeal to the secular power 
if unhappy or dissatisfied with her condition. But in 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 107 

Great Britain — the land and home of the free — no shield of 
protection whatever is afforded the numbers of defenceless 
women who are held in a bondage and oppression worse 
than that of the slave. Having once entered and taken 
the vows, they have no human helpers. Free from the 
inspection of police, or of friends and relatives, or of any 
inquirer or intruder whatever, governments and societies 
are set at defiance. Neither police, nor sympathizing 
friends, nor rescue societies, have communication with these 
abodes. They cannot advocate the cause of the ' broken in 
heart,' they cannot relieve or deliver them. The pro- 
prietors of English convents possess an unrestrained and 
irresponsible power ; hence body and soul, and frequently 
estate also, are yielded over to the cupidity of the 
Eomish Church and prelacy. Many can testify who have 
desired — urgently desired — to see their secreted relatives, 
and have been repelled. When it does not suit the in- 
terest of Borne, access is denied. She may be dead; 
she may be suffering in the underground dungeons 
common to these institutions; she may be weeping and 
declining with neglect, torture, or cruelty (not an un- 
common case) ; it matters not, there is no redress, no more 
than if she who is entrapped were in the inquisition of 
Spain. Justice and mercy cannot reach her, they are not 
known. The Eoman priesthood rejoice in exemption from 
discovery ; they are secure, at least from human interposi- 
tion, although the convent may be luxuriating in the wealth 
her victim has imparted. 

" But why do the Eoman priesthood seek, by every wily 
artifice, by every alluring stratagem, to win over to the 
life of a recluse — a nun — that elegant female, reared in 
affluence, comfort, and perhaps in piety ? Wherefore ? It 
is her ample fortune which they seek ; and her person once 
surrendered, her estate will surely follow : the major 
objects of Rome being twofold — namely, possession of the 
person and of the wealth of their devotees — also to win 
over the precious soul to the deadly superstition and 
idolatries of the Papacy. It is well understood by some 
for what purpose many of these nunneries are designed ; 
but in order to save appearances — to hide the scandal, and 
to hoodwink the public — it is not allowed to be so at all. 
What, may we inquire of those familiar with history, were 
the convents of past ages in England but abodes of im- 



108 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

purity? And that nuns in our days, yielding an abject 
submission to their spiritual betrayers, have been compelled 
to a life of infamy, can be readily substantiated. But not 
one of the inmates of this class of nunneries dare disclose 
the truth, or to express their desire for liberty, however 
strongly cherished, unless they were previously assured of 
effective protection. Too well they know the result would 
be the underground vault or secret prison. There is no 
law but submission, utter submission, or maltreatment, 
even unto death. If there be subsequent resistance 
or compunction of mind, punishment is resorted to with 
great rigour and cruelty. Should a love of holiness, or 
abhorrence of this life, impel a female to testify the 
truth, to speak ner mind and to remonstrate ; if she should 
suffer or be tortured — no cry, or wail, or sound is heard. 
Who or where is he that dare interpose, even on English 
ground ? All is still. The gag, the vault, hanging with 
the head downwards, and other modes of punishment are 
ever ready for helpless woman, to enforce submission or to 
destroy her. That there are corrupt nuns who remain 
voluntarily what Eome has made them, we do not attempt 
to deny. But where are the friends of the betrayed, the 
injured, the deceived, the virtuous woman, whose person is 
arbitrarily imprisoned, and whose fortune is alienated, after 
entering these abodes of despotism and sin ? 

" The Church of Eome is responsible for these ' abomina- 
tions,' these ' scandals.' The Pope sanctions them — the 
same who sanctions the Jesuits. The priesthood of Eome 
conceive the ' strong delusion ' that the denunciations of the 
Word of God do not apply to them. They are annulled — 
they are repealed — by the superior voice and dictum of 
1 The Church '—the Church that soars above Scripture and 
above ' all that is called God.'' Sin is not sin in their case ; 
they are exempt, it being sanctioned by the 'word' of the 
Pope, and the execrable laws of Jesuit Popery ; to betray 
confiding innocence, to corrupt guileless souls who resort 
to then) for ihe salvation of God, is not sin to these vice- 
gerents of heaven. Nay, a nun is taught to esteem herself 
made more acceptable to God by ministering to Christ's 
holy priesthood upon earth. On the Continent, in Eoman 
countries, those evils are known to have existed in past 
times, whatever may be the- case at present. In the con- 
vents destroyed by Napoleon, he found 'innumerable 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 109 

bones of infants,' it being the custom in these establish- 
ments to destroy the offspring a few days after birth. Is 
there not a cause for secrecy, MYSTEEY, concealment, 
bolts, bars, high walls, in Papal Catholic 'houses,' thus 
devoted to the rites and mysteries of the god they worship ? 
"Men of England! these are the works of Antichrist 
predicted to arise in ages past. The burner of Scripture 
— of the holy words of Peter and of Paul, whom they 
pretend to venerate — the t forlidder of marriage,'' the woe 
and blight of nations ! Men of England ! tear away the 
veil, and look behind the scenes of ' Mystic Babylon.' You 
will see prophetic Scripture fulfilled and verified — 'And 
she had on her forehead, her name written, MYSTEEY 
.... THE MOTHEE OF HAELOTS AND 
ABOMINATIONS OF THE EAETH' (Eev. xvii. 5). 
Let us then determine to wipe away this reproach to 
Britain, this shame to British legislation — that her justice 
and laws cannot reach the deceived, the betrayed, the 
wronged, the crushed English female, who enters her 
doom wholly unconscious of the evils that await her, 
helpless of redress — helpless and unable to escape from a 
forced captivity and confiscation of all she possesses — her 
soul, her honour, and her wealth." — T. R. F., Bath. 



Surely no one who has been taught " as the truth 
is in Jesus," who knows what Rome is, and who desires 
the good of souls, ought to remain silent. 

It is only a marvel that so few are found boldly ex- 
pressing their abhorrence of the wily treachery and 
superstition by which Popery is ever trying to fasten 
her satanic destruction on the minds of men. It is 
vain to say, How can intelligent minds succumb to such 
absurdities and hellish atrocities ! Man is lost in sin — 
he lives in darkness — he has no divine light ; therefore, 
what one sinner is capable of, so may another. Man is 
naturally propense to corruption; only let the means 
be furnished, and where is he? Rome's policy is to 
conceal all but what is known to attract and delude the 






110 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

natural senses. All history proves that its practices — 
image-worship and invocation of saints, auricular con- 
fession, the celibacy of its clergy, sale of indulgences, 
remission of sin by the absolution of a priest, prayers 
in a dead language, and, more than all, the denial of 
Grod's Word, have been abounding sources of the vilest 
under-currents of iniquity, and prolific in the enormity 
of the greatest public acts of sin. 

As to the absurdities to which the man will succumb, 
and the atrocities in which he will take part, the follow- 
ing specimens are reliable and conclusive. The Eomish 
objections to giving the laity the cup are summed up 
in the " Grounds of Catholic Doctrines," as follows : — 

1. "Because of the danger of spilling the blood of 
Christ, which could hardly be avoided, if all were to receive 
the cup. 

2. " Because, considering how soon wine decays, the sacra- 
ment could not well be kept for the sick in both kinds. 

3. " Because some constitutions can neither endure the 
taste nor smell of wine. 

4. " Because true wine in some countries is very hard to 
be met with. 

5. "In opposition to those heretics who deny that Christ 
is received whole and entire under either kind." 

THE PRIEST CONFOUNDED. 

" A Protestant lady married a Eoman Catholic 'gentle- 
man, on condition that he would never attempt to make her 
a proselyte to his religion. After their marriage, he so far 
kept his word as to abstain from conversing with her on 
Popish points. He, however, did not scruple to employ 
the Eomish priest, who often visited the family, to endea- 
vour to instil Eoman Catholic principles into her mind. 
But she remained unmoved, and on the doctrine of tran- 
substantiation was especially firin. At length the husband 
became seriously ill, and was recommended by the priest 
to receive the 'holy sacrament.' The wife requested that 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. Ill 

she might be allowed to prepare tlie wafer and wine for the 
solemnity. Leave being granted she did so, and said (on 
presenting them to the priest) ' These, sir, you wish me to 
believe will, on your performing the act of consecration, be 
no longer bread and wine, but be changed into the real 
body and blood of Christ.' 

" ' Most certainly,' he replied. 

"'Then, sir,' she rejoined, 'as our Saviour has said, 
u My flesh is meat indeed, and my blood is drink indeed, 
and he that eateth me shall live by me," it will not be 
possible, after the consecration act, for the elements which 
have become the body and blood of Christ to do the worthy 
communicant any harm.' 

" 'Assuredly,' answered the priest, 'they cannot do 
harm to worthy receivers, but must communicate to them 
great good.' 

' ' The ceremony was proceeded in, the bread and wine 
were consecrated, and the priest was just about to take 
and eat the bread. At this juncture the lady begged 
pardon for interrupting him, and said, 'I mixed some 
arsenic with the bread, sir ; but as it is now truly changed 
into the real body of Christ, it cannot, of course, do you 
any harm.' 

"The principles of the priest, however, were not suffi- 
ciently firm to induce him to eat the bread. Confused, 
ashamed, and irritated, he forthwith left the house, and 
never again argued with the lady about the doctrine of 
transubstantiation. 

" 'Hefeedeth on ashes, a deceived heart hath turned 
him aside, that he cannot deliver his soul, nor say, Is there 
not a lie in my right hand ? ' ' Prove all things. Hold fast 
that which is good.' 

"Bertram, a celebrated .Roman Catholic writer, says, 
'As to the substance of the creatures, what they were 
before consecration they remain after it. Bread and wine 
they were before, and after consecration, we see, they con- 
tinue bread and wine.' " 

" ' I affirm,' saith the creed of Pius IV., ' that the power 
of indulgence was left by Christ in the Church, and that 
the use of them is most wholesome to Christian people.' 
'Come,' said Tetzel, on his tour through Germany with 
indulgences, ' and I will give you letters, all properly sealed, 
by which even the sins you intend to commit may be par- 



112 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

doned.' This was the wretched priest whose abominable 
speeches and acts roused Martin Luther to defend the truth. 

"' There is no sin so great that an indulgence cannot 
remit, or even if any one had offered violence to the Virgin 
Mary, mother of God, let him pay — only let him pay well 
— and all will be forgiven him.' (Tetzel contra Lutherum.) 
Again, ' Indulgence avails not only for the living, but for 
the dead (in purgatory).' 'At the very instant,' said he, 
1 when your money rattles at the bottom of the chest, the 
soul escapes from purgatory, and flies liberated to heaven. 
Now heaven is opened ! Stiffhecked and thoughtless man ! 
with twelve groats you can deliver your father from pur- 
gatory ! The Lord our God no longer reigns ! He has 
resigned all power to the Pope.' 

" The end of this blasphemy was to obtain money to re- 
build and decorate St. Peter's, at Pome. I have seen an 
extract of a report concerning one hundred and forty-four 
monasteries, that contains abominations in it equal to any 
that were in Sodom. We are told, concerning relics, that 
the teeth of St. Apollonia, used as amulets on charms 
against toothache, filled a tun. There were more pieces of 
the true cross than would have made a whole one. The 
market was bountifully supplied with the parings of St. 
Andrew's toes, coals that roasted St. Lawrence, girdles of 
the Virgin, &c, &c. All this in the nineteenth century. 
The most valuable, however, to the clergy was a phial, 
said to contain a portion of the Saviour's blood, which was 
invisible to all except to penitents, who, by confession and 
offerings, had obtained absolution. It contained blood, 
which was renewed every week ; was transparent on one 
side and opaque on the other, and turned, by secret means, 
its red side to the penitent at the will of the priest who held 
it. Nor is this to be regarded as peculiar to a past age ; 
only last summer we saw an exhibition of the bones of St. 
Genevieve in Paris, when a professedly Protestant minister 
paid to see them, and, with a young lady, gave to them the 
utmost reverence. Money, money, money is the secret of 
it all. The exhibition of the holy coat of Treves in 1844 
w ill be fresh in the memory of our elder readers, when 
what is said to bo the seamless coat of our Lord was shown, 
during six weeks, daily to 500,000 of assembled worshippers, 
who were invited by circulars to the public exposition and 
adoration of the ir estimable treasure. As a climax to such 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 113 

a mass of superstition, we may mention the relic seen by 
Beckford at the Escurial, near Madrid, which was a large 
and handsome feather, very splendidly mounted, &c, said 
to be 'a feather from the wing of the angel Gabriel.' " 

All this is contemptible and blasphemous. But we 
feel constrained to touch another characteristic — the 
ruling and diabolical characteristic of Home. Now that 
England is shutting her eyes, and stopping her ears, 
and becoming tinged by this fire from the infernal 
regions, it is needful to remind people of that which 
will surely appeal to their feelings, and revive in 
their memories facts which they appear to forget. 

u On Bartholomew's night, August 24, 1572, the ca- 
thedral bell of St. Germain L'Auxerrois tolled as a signal 
for the work of destruction (concocted, as we all know, at 
Bayonne, between Catherine de Medicis and her young son 
Charles IX., &c.) to commence, the horrors of which we 
will allow a Roman historian to describe : — 

"The daylight, which discovered so many crimes which 
the darkness of an eternal night ought for ever to have 
concealed, did not soften their ardour by these objects of 
pity, but exasperated them more. The populace, and the 
most dastardly, being warmed by the smell of blood, sixty 
thousand men, transported with their fury, and armed in 
different ways, ran about wherever example, vengeance, 
rage, and the desire of plunder transported them. The 
air resounded with a horrible tempest of the hisses, blas- 
phemies, and oaths of the murderers ; of the breaking open 
of doors and windows ; of the firing of pistols and guns ; of 
the pitiable cries of the dying ; of the lamentations of the 
women, whom they dragged by the hair ; of the noise of 
carts, some loaded with the booty of the houses they 
pillaged, others with the dead bodies, which they cast into 
the Seine ; so that, in the confusion, they could not hear 
each other speak in the streets, or, if they distinguished 
certain words, they were these furious expressions, ' Kill 1 
stab ! throw them out of the window ! ' A dreadful and 
inevitable death presented itself in every shape. Some 



114 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

were shot on the roofs of houses, others were cast out of 
the windows. Some were cast into the water, and knocked 
on the head with blows of iron bars or clubs ; some were 
killed in their beds, some in the garrets, others in cellars, 
wives in the arms of their husbands, husbands in the 
bosoms of their wives, sons at the feet of their fathers. 
They neither spared the aged, nor women great with child, 
nor even infants. It is related that a man was seen to stab 
one of them who played with the beard of its murderer, 
and that a troop of little boys dragged another in its cradle 
into the river. The streets were paved with the bodies of 
the dead or the dying ; the gateways were blocked up with 
them. There were heaps of them in the squares; the 
small streams were filled with blood, which flowed in fresh 
torrents into the river. Finally, to sum up in a few words 
what took place in these three days — six hundred houses 
were repeatedly pillaged, and four thousand persons mas- 
sacred, with all the confusion and barbarity that can be 
imagined." — Mezerai's History of France. 

In 1643 a Pope's bull was issued respecting certain 
atrocities perpetrated by the Papists of Ireland on their 
Protestant countrymen, which was this : — 

"That whereas, the Irish have endeavoured, by force of 
arms to deliver their thralled nation from the oppression of 
the heretics, and to extirpate those workers of iniquity; 
by virtue of his power of Unding and loosing, which Grod has 
conferred upon him, to all and every the aforesaid Christians 
in the kingdom of Ireland, so long as they should war 
against the said heretics, and other enemies of the Catholic 
faith, he did grant a full and plenary indulgence, and abso- 
lute remission of all their si?is, desiring all of them to be par- 
ti iters of this precious treasure." 

Is it to be wondered at, that with all horrible deeds 
fhus forgiven beforehand, the bigoted Papists slew 
thousands of Protestants, and committed barbarities 
suoh as c.nly oharaoteriae the warfare of Eome, and her 
enslaved and ignorant sons? The Popish historian, 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS, 115 

Llorente, writing of the Spanish Inquisition, says that 
the number of its victims from a.d. 1481 to 1808, 
amounted to 341,021 ! ! Of these 31,912 were burnt, 
17,569 who died under torture in prison, were burnt in 
effigy, while the rest were subjected to very severe 
penances, and this in Spain alone. 

The Duke of Alva, a bigoted Papist, who ruled the 
Netherlands as Spanish viceroy in the sixteenth century, 
boasted that he had put to death 36,000 Protestants by 
the hand of the common executioner. It is not too 
much to say that millions of lives have been thus sacri- 
ficed, in the name of the meek and lowly Jesus. Oh, 
how infinite must His mercy be, to refrain from sending 
direct and immediate judgments on such evil-doers ! 

Read of the atrocities committed on the Albigenses 
and Waldenses. Time would fail to recount the repeated 
acts of which Rome is guilty, all proving the hellish 
source of her birthplace. A word to women here : let 
those who now think it so innocent and becoming to 
attach crosses to their persons, worship clergymen and 
creeds, and succumb to a vast quantity of absurdities, 
while they endanger their souls and bodies, remember 
that such "harmless" or "profitable" "pretty little 
books," &c, contain, nevertheless, a germ which is 
capable, even in a woman, of growth so noxious that 
we need only refer to Catherine de Medicis, and one 
more — the mother of Francis of France, who, wishing 
to please the Pope, consulted with him as to the best 
mode of repressing Protestantism, on which occasion 
the Pope appointed the Inquisition in France, and com- 
manded that " all heretics should be given up to the 
secular power to be burnt to ashes." 

How many more of these fiendish characters in the 
i2 



116 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

form of men and women might be added as specimens 
of Eome's schooling ? "Why are these horrors quoted 
here ? Because such diabolical horrors are only the full 
manifestation of the principle contained in small begin- 
nings. Every accession to Roman Catholicism in agree- 
ment, taste, or act, is a step onward in the principle 
which can glut and glory in torturing and killing 
human beings ; this may offend many, but did Liguori, 
Catherine de Medicis, &c, &c, foresee and approve in 
their beginnings that in which they ultimately exulted ? 
It has been shown that Saint Liguori was and is still 
held as a sure reference in all matters of theology in 
the Church of Eome. In his treatise on the Inquisition, 
he shows how its duties may be successfully carried out. 
Not one word does he breathe against it ; on the con- 
trary, he teaches that a child should denounce even his 
own father ', and the father denounce his own child to 
the Inquisition in case of heresy (p. 239, vol. iv., 1828). 

" In reference to the torture, Liguori says : ' Finally, if 
the accused confess the crime, the sentence is to be given. 
If not, he is to be led to correction, or the torture.' 

11 So that, on the testimony of one who is considered an 
unexceptionable witness, the accused may be put to the tor- 
ture ! Having given other cases in which the torture may 
be employed, he says : ' Because torture is a help to proof, 
when arguments and signs are non-efficacious, that thus a 
full proof may be elicited.' British Protestants, think of 
torture being advocated by this saintly doctor, by whose 
admonitions Eoman Catholics pray that they may be 
taught ! Alas ! how Satan perverts the holiest things to 
his own purposes, when religion is thus made the hand- 
maid of inhumanity ! Truly, Popery is Satan's masterpiece ! 
Seo a poor fellow-creature writhing in all the agonies of the 
rack, the pulley, or the pendulum, whose only crime, per- 
adventure, is thai ho is a Protestant! BehoM beings who 
wear the human form, but are more like demons, though 
they are distinguished by the priestly robe or the monk's 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 117 

cowl, working the instruments of torture, and adding to 
the woe of the sufferer in every possible form ; and when 
you learn that this system was solemnly established by 
Rome, sanctioned by the bulk of those who call themselves 
Yicars of Christ, and advocated by Saints to whom Roman- 
ists pray, does not your blood boil with a manly, yea, a 
righteous indignation ? and have you not proof sufficient in 
this — had you no other — that the religion which teaches 
such a system is not from the Prince of Peace, but the 
prince of darkness — is not from heaven, but from hell ? 
Oh, could the walls of the Inquisition speak, what tales 
would they tell of sorrow, and suffering, and woe ! But 
there is a day coming when great Babylon shall come into 
remembrance before Glod, and for which the blood of 
martyrs pleads. ' How long, Lord, holy and true, dost 
Thou not judge and avenge our blood on them that dwell 
on earth?" (Rev. vi. 10). 

" Let British Protestants — if they value their free insti- 
tutions, their noble constitution, their homes, which not 
even the monarch can invade — protest against the national 
encouragement of a system in whose train follows misery, 
and crime, and woe!" — Blaheneifs "Popery in its Social 
Aspects." 

The following account is well calculated to show that 
■money is the secret idol, worshipped and obtained by 
every lying device. All the exhibitions and demon- 
strations of Romish worship, with its false attractions 
to the natural senses of the ignorant, are entirely de- 
pendent on money : — 

THE RELIGION OF MONEY. 

" A rich Scotchman had come to sojourn in a village on 
the banks of the Loire. There he dwelt happily in the 
bosom of a large family, and found his satisfaction in pro- 
moting the comfort of the poor around him, as far as his 
ample fortune would permit. The country folks were loud 
in his praise, and often observed that this 'heretic,' as the 
curate called him, gave more in charity than the amount of 
all the parish collections put together. The curate was 
afraid that this generous conduct would win the hearts of 
the people towards this Protestant, and by degrees alienate 



118 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

them from the holy Catholic Church. He undertook, there- 
fore, to prove from the pulpit, that all the heretics, Cal- 
vinists, and Lutherans are condemned to everlasting flames. 
But he well knew that none of his arguments would be 
so powerful with his parishioners as the liberality of the 
foreigner ; he determined, therefore, to change his course 
and root out the evil at once. In order to fulfil his pur- 
pose, he determined to convert the Scotchman to the 
Mother Church. He sought, therefore, opportunities of 
intercourse, and did not hesitate to warn him of his danger, 
and earnestly besought him to enter that Church, out of 
which there is no salvation. At last, as they were walking 
one day, our Cure resumed the usual topic, and was agree- 
ably surprised to hear him answer with a friendly smile, 
1 Yery well ; let me hear, then, a little about your religion, 
that I may rightly understand it. Stay, let us sit down 
here,' added he. ' Tell me, then, according to your Roman 
Catholic and Apostolic Church, what must I do to be 
saved ? ' 

" Cure. — First of all you must be baptized. 

" Milford. — And how much will it cost me to be baptized ? 

" C. — It depends upon the generosity; the fixed price is 
45 sous. 

" M. — Yery well ; but once baptized, what must be done 
then? 

" C. — As soon as the child attains the proper age, he 
must be admitted to the first communion. 

" M. — And how much does it cost to make the first com- 
munion ? 

" C. — It will depend on your generosity and 

" M. — It is of course nothing to me \ but I merely ask 
what is the sum usually paid by your villagers ? 

" C. — Alas! sometimes only a wax candle: scarcely 3 
francs and 10 sous. 

" M. — Yery well; 45 sous to be baptized, 3 francs and 
10 sous for the first communion. What must be done next 
in order to be saved ? 

" C. — You must fast during vigils in Ember weeks ; take 
no meat on Fridays, Saturdays, and during Lent. 

"if. — But I must tell you that we English are great 
eaters, especially of animal food ; so that it would be to me 
a very painful matter to fast and live upon broth. And my 
health 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 119 

" C. — Oh ! sooner than your health should suffer, we can 
dispense with fasts : I can give you the recent example of 
the Pope, who, to reward a faithful Bonian Catholic who 
had given him a tiara worth 6,000 francs, accorded to him a 
parchment grant, signed, sealed, and delivered, exempting 
him and his descendants from fasts, so long as the world 
lasts. 

" M. — I do not question it, but I have no tiara to 
bestow. I ask you, then, what is ordinarily given to procure 
exemption during Lent ? 

" C. — A crown of 6 francs. 

" M. — And for the fifty-two Fridays and Saturdays at 
the same rate. 

" C. — Of course. 

" 3f. — It amounts, then, to about 15 francs per annum, 
besides the 6 francs for Lent, amounting altogether to 
21 francs. 

" C. — You forget the fasts. 

" M. — You are right; we must add 10 francs more to be 
excused from the fasts and Lent; that makes 31 francs 
for fasts, maigre, &c. And what more does your Church 
require ? 

" C. — To attend mass every Sunday. 

" M. — And what does it cost to be properly accom- 
modated at the mass ? 

" C. — You can have a comfortable seat in the choir for 
15 francs, or the verger can give you a chair every Sunday 
morning for 1 sous, except in the principal feast days, and 
then she would expect 2 or 3 sous. 

" If. — That is fair. On these days the people are more 
eager to be at church : it is therefore right to facilitate 
their admission by raising the price of the seats. There- 
fore we will say 1 sous each Sunday, which is 52 each year. 
I reckon 10 sous for chairs for special feasts. This amounts 
to 3 francs 2 sous yearly. What more is wanted ? 

" C. — You must confess once a year at least. I will 
give you absolution for your sins, and you will only have 
to make up the penance imposed ; for instance, to repeat 
fifty Paternosters and fifty Ave Marias. 

" M. — But if by chance I forget to repeat my Ave 
Marias and Paternosters, and after a number of these 
omissions it became impossible to fetch up the arrears, 
then I could not expect to be saved ? 



120 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

" C. — Oil ! but you could have recourse to the indulgence 
box to do away with such. sins. 

" If. — And what is put into the box for indulgence ? 

" C— Money. 

"M.— How much? 

" C. — We do not know what is given by each wor- 
shipper ; but we find there some gold, some silver, many 
pence, and more farthings. 

" If. — Yery well. I should adopt the middle course, and 
so I will set down 12 fr. for my fines. But, as it regards 
those boxes, I have observed several in your church, and I 
should like to understand what is put into them. 

" C. — Money. 

11 If. — What is the purpose of the one against the first 
pillar to the left ? 

" C. — Money for the repairs of the church. 

" Jf.— And the box to the right ? 

" C. — Money for permission to have butter and milk 
during Lent. 

" M. — And what have you in the box facing the pulpit? 

" C— Money for the Holy Chapel of the Virgin. 

" If. — And in the other ? 

" C. — For public worship. 

11 If. — It is well explained. But, to proceed, what else 
must be done ? 

" C. — On the bed of death a good Roman Catholic must 
receive extreme unction. 

" if.— And what is the fee for that ? 

" a— Nothing. 

" M. — How ! nothing ? — hardly possible ! 

" C. — Why, you see, when a man receives extreme 
unction he is not far from death, and then comes the inter- 
ment. 

" If. — Oh ! I understand ; it is all paid together. How 
much then does the whole funeral cost ? 

" C. — Oh! it is impossible to give you the precise 
answer. It depends on the number of priests who are 
wanted. These are 20 fr. each. Then if the large cross is 
borne at the head of the procession, it is 15 fr. more. If 
the one in gold is required, it is fifty. With the Swiss, 
twenty-five more. We have also funeral palls coarser or 
finer, more or less rich, and therefore more or less expen- 
sive. You may also have the old people from the alms- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 121 

houses, and the young girls from the orphan asylum, the 
order of white or black penitents, whichever you please. 
You may estimate burial costs from 15 fr. to 1,000 crowns. 

" if. — I thank you for all your information, but I merely 
want to know the ordinary expense. 

" C. — Very well. You could not do without one priest, 
two ecclesiastics, and one cross ; according to this arrange- 
ment you may be buried for 24 fr. 

" M. — And with all these costs I should be sure of 
Paradise ? 

" C. — No: but in all probability you will go to purga- 
tory. 

" M. — To purgatory! But, if so, you have not saved 
me, for you cannot come to deliver me from thence. 

" C. — In that you are mistaken. You have only to 
leave orders, by your will, that masses shall be repeated 
for you, so that you may be taken from purgatory to 
Paradise. 

" M. — I understand ; and how much does a mass for the 
dead cost ? 

" C.— Thirty sous. 

" M. — And how many masses will be wanted ? 

" C. — I cannot exactly tell, but the more masses you 
appoint, the greater chance there is of a speedy deliver- 
ance from this place of torment. 

" M. — I see. As the money for the masses is the last 
that you can receive from an individual, you do not fix the 
number, that scope may be given for the generosity of his 
relatives. You are less compassionate than death itself ; 
she closes the earth over us once for all. But you — you 
never close your purse. But as I wish to know what I can 
do whilst I am here towards my salvation hereafter, will 
you make an exception in my favour, and tell me how many 
masses one may reasonably provide ? 

" C. — Twenty would not hurt you, and I think 

" M. — Twenty masses at 30 sous ; that makes 30 fr. ; now 
then let us add up all these items of expense, which must 
be incurred in your Catholic and Apostolic Church in order 
to be saved : — 



122 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Francs. Sous. 

Baptism 25 

First Communion ^ . 3 10 

For exemption during Lent, at 6 fr. a-year: this 

for thirty years [if I should live] will he . 180 
For exemption on Fridays and Saturdays, at 15 fr. 

a-year, for thirty years .... 450 
To he excused from fasts at 10 fr. a-year, for 

thirty years 300 

For the seats on Sundays and great festivals, at 

3 fr. 2 sous per annum, for thirty years . 93 

For indulgences on account of ommissions, &c. . 12 

Burial and extreme unction 24 

Masses to be delivered from purgatory 30 

1117 10 

I can be saved — go to Paradise — for the moderate sum of 
1, 1 17 fr. 10 sous ! " —RousselV s Tracts. 

We need not travel far into Eomanism before we find 
ourselves in the meshes of infidelity — not only merging 
out of it, but coupled with it, as a natural consequence. 

Every unchanged sinner is, and ever has been, a 
practical infidel, " living without God in the world." 
but the allowed infidelity of this age of shameless 
defiance of God and His truth is presented before us 
as a subject invested with the interest of some worthy 
novelty in which man may take refuge, accepting or 
otherwise just as infidels choose. In fact they bring 
God down to their own level. His word is placed on 
one platform with the discoveries and objects of the 
day. Thus the things of time and eternity are 
regarded and offered to the people, as matters of equal 
choice, and whether lost but immortal sinners are 
taught to disbelieve the revelation of Grod and perish ; 
or whether they be brought through grace to believe 
and live, it little troubles those who, in their blindness 
and sin, treat the Word of God as the word of man. 

How awfully solemn must that time be when man's 
network is torn to pieces, and every thread becomes an 



SP [RITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 123 

insupportable torment ; the past gone ; the future 
unknown ; and nothing left but horrible forebodings, 
and with every breath a doubt, whether the rest may 
not be with the devil and his angels shut up to shame 
and everlasting contempt. Who can live happily in a 
position involving so awful a doubt; not knowing at 
what moment life may be taken ? The Lord in His 
sovereign mercy bring such poor blinded ones to see 
and receive the truth in the love of it. Place all that 
this world can yield at the disposal of the unbeliever, 
and, whatever views he may have of Grod and eternity, 
he cannot be here long to entertain them. Compare 
this with the substantial comfort which the believer 
possesses from the verities of eternal truth through the 
Fountain of life, and the confidence with which he 
faces the future, and judge whether the former position 
for the longest life is worth the torment of doubt. 
Many endeavour to harden themselves against the 
truth, saying in the heart, "No Grod;" but their efforts 
fail. Conscience discovers proofs of the truth too strong 
to allow them to enjoy complete success. The fact 
which our great deceiver, " the serpent," spoke to Eve 
is proved to be true. " Knowing good and evil " is 
charged upon us, and for which we are responsible. 
and will be weighed in (rod's scales. Into what depths, 
then, will those sink who have allowed themselves, first 
to walk with Grod's enemies, then to stand parleying 
with them in fellowship, and, as usual in a downward 
course, to end by sitting " in the seat of the scornful " 
— helping one another, through the hardness of their 
hearts, to maintain their infidelity, whilst they fill up 
the measure of their iniquity, step by step, passing 
through a process by which the enemy with his iron 



124 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHEJl SIGNS. 

grasp effectually turns the whole man into a weapon of 
iniquity. Such is practical infidelity, with " the con- 
science seared as with a hot iron," living only to deny 
and blaspheme his Maker, as well as instrumentally to 
destroy his fellow mortals. 

There are some amongst these pitiable ones — and 
sorrowful it is to believe their number is increasing — 
whose resolute unbelief reins in the tongue so tightly 
that it cannot move under the impulse of conscience ; 
whilst others, not so far gone in self-destruction, leave 
the tongue sufficient liberty to indicate the trembling 
that is felt within. Outward shades vary, and greater 
or less acknowledgments may be made ; but the con- 
science and manifestations to the searching eye of Grod 
are regarded as the same thing, and must be traced to 
the one great deception, " Thou shalt not surely die." 
And so the enemy of souls continues to whisper in the 
hearts of his victims his own forged lie. All the stages 
of hardening and fearful unbelief of Grod's word are 
traceable to this soul-destroying lie. But the heart 
being "deceitful above all things, and desperately 
wicked," is thereby deceived. They are kept from 
seeing his devices, or knowing themselves. The many 
phases of infidelity are perhaps as great as the most 
experienced creature is capable of. For instance, 
religionism, practised for temporal purposes, or no 
religion, consented to also for a temporal purpose, or 
either of these, as a self-defender against whatsoever 
might at times intrude (illness, danger, &e.) and trouble 
the mind in reference to another world. But this very 
struggle to harden self against believing the truth is a 
proof of that very truth which must condemn every 
subject of such a struggle now (and such is their inward 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 125 

experience), added to which, the fear and apprehension 
of coming doom " upon every soul of man that doeth 
evil," proves immortal man to be incapable of making 
himself a true infidel. It is a rare thing to meet with 
a real, consistent infidel ; one who never flinches, and 
whose conscience never whispers conviction or alarm. 
It is a strange thing to regard a counterfeit as the 
lesser of two evils ; but in the matter of infidelity, the 
counterfeit has the hopeful advantage. Let, then, the 
unreal infidels take warning before time closes upon 
them, and before eternity shall for ever convince them 
of their madness. We need not look beyond the 
appalling descriptions given in Jude to tell us what 
man really is capable of when continuous sin hardens 
into a defiance of Grod. At last left to himself, real 
infidelity sets in, and a licence is thus given to sin yet 
more, for then no restraint remains to check the full 
outgoing of all iniquity. Jude, 12, 13 : " These are 
spots in your feasts of charity, when they feast with 
you, feeding themselves without fear : clouds they are 
without water, carried about of winds ; trees whose 
fruit withereth, without fruit, twice dead, plucked up 
by the roots ; raging waves of the sea, foaming out 
their own shame ; wandering stars, to whom is reserved 
the blackness of darkness for ever." 

If such awful results are existing in this world con- 
sequent on man's defiance of his Maker, what must his 
condition be when fully developed, where his soul and 
body shall have become a ceaseless subject of torment- 
ing unsatisfied cravings, and bound down to eternal 
endurance — associated with kindred characters, and in 
a world where not a single ray of hope appears to gild 
the gloom. "Will he then repeat what he now dares to 



126 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

say, " No Grod " ? since " the devils themselves believe 
and tremble." 

" Infidelity is making far more rapid progress than we are 
at all aware of. It is secretly sapping the foundations of 
thought and feeling throughout the whole civilized world. 
In numberless cases where there is the outward semblance of 
reverence for sacred things, there is underneath a sceptical 
influence at work, which only waits for the suited occasion 
to burst forth in overwhelming force, and carry away the 
feeble embankments which education and social influence 
have erected. In many cases it is painfully apparent how 
little reverence there is for the Bible or sacred things on 
the part of the young people growing up around us. If we 
look back over the history of the last quarter of a century, 
we cannot but see a marked and melancholy change in this 
respect. There was an outward respect, at least, for the 
Word of God, sufficient to make men shrink with a sort of 
horror from any one who could dare to broach infidel or 
sceptical notions. - Even that feeling is rapidly passing 
away. Thousands and tens of thousands now listen with 
cold indifference, if not with a secret feeling of approval, 
to bold infidel attacks upon the sacred volume. All this, 
with much more that might be named, marks the appalling 
progress of infidelity. Professedly Christian teachers are 
not ashamed or afraid to call in question the authenticity 
of Holy Scripture. Every new attack upon the Bible, 
every new assault upon Christianity, is received with a 
growing interest by millions of professing Christians 
throughout Europe and America. Every new theory 
which seems at all likely to furnish materials for an attack 
upon divine revelation, or its divine Author, is swallowed 
with avidity. "VVe cannot shut our eyes to these facts, and 
we dare not withhold them from our readers. These lines 
w hich we are penning in England may be read by persons 
in the bush in Australia and New Zealand, or in the back- 
woods of America ; and these persons may be casting many 
a longing look, and sending many a deep-drawn sigh across 
the ocean to this highly-favoured land, and drawing a con- 
between the lighl which shines here and the darkness 
eigne there. 

"AVell, we can and do bless God for our many privileges 
—we praise Him for the inestimable blessing of civil and 



'B 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 127 

religious liberty — we praise Him for an open Bible and a 
free Gospel — we praise Him for thousands of souls turned 
from darkness to light, and from the power of Satan to 
Grod — we praise Him for thousands of hearts devoted to 
the name and cause of Jesus — we praise Him for the mag- 
nificent wave of blessing which has, within the last seven 
years, rolled over America and Europe. For all these 
things, we heartily bless His name ; but, notwithstanding 
all this, the solemn fact presses upon the heart that 
infidelity is making rapid strides in England, on the Con- 
tinent of Europe, and throughout the length and breadth 
of the New World. 

"Then, as to superstition, in all its forms, can anyone 
fail to mark its progress ? "What a growing confidence in 
ordinances ; what attention to the outward forms and cere- 
monies of ritualism ; what a clinging to human authority ; 
what reverence for tradition ; what earnest cravings after 
antiquity ; what thirst for the attraction of music, painting, 
sculpture, and architecture in the so-called service and 
worship of God ! What do all these things indicate ? In 
what direction are they leading souls ? Of what are they 
the symptoms ? Let the thoughtful reader answer. 

"But let us inquire, what is there in the professing 
Church to stand against this rapidly rising tide of infidelity 
and superstition? A feeble, meagre, shallow evangeli- 
calism; an easy, worldly, self-indulgent evangelical pro- 
fession ; a kind of gospel ; a gospel diluted ; a gospel shorn 
of its strength, its majesty, and its glory ; a gospel deprived 
of its edge, its point, and its pungency ; a gospel which, in 
many cases, seeks to persuade the sinner that Glod (we 
speak with all reverence) will be very much obliged to 
him for accepting salvation ; a gospel which will not suffer 
the word 'responsibility 7 to fall upon the ear of the pro- 
fessor, and will not admit of any such thing as the claims 
of the Lordship of Christ. According to the teaching of 
this so-called gospel the very mention of duties, claims, 
and responsibilities savours of legality. The conscience is 
not to be addressed. No warning voice must be heard, 
lest it should lead souls to question their interest in Christ, 
lest it should disturb their peace. 

"Reader, be thou well assured of it, this will never do. 
We want something quite different. We want a gospel 
which links together, by one indissoluble bond, these two 



128 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

words, ' Saviour ' and ' Lord.' We want, like the rescued 
demoniac, to take our place at the feet of that Blessed One 
who is at once our Deliverer and our Master." — " Things 
New and Old," March, 1865. 

" It is one of the signs of the times that references to the 
injurious practices as well as the false doctrines of the 
Church of Eome are received with an ominous silence, 
betokening a moderation of public feeling upon the subject 
of Romanism, which, if it pervaded our community, would 
utterly destroy our missionary zeal. The results we have 
looked for are not outward and manifest, but inward and 
spiritual. They are small comparatively, and gradual, but 
they are genuine. They are such as may escape the obser- 
vation of an anthropologist, while they are open gloriously 
to the discernment of the Christian mind. The other con- 
sideration I refer to is this. It should be borne in mind 
that, against the gigantic evils of an idolatry for many 
centuries neglected both in India and Africa, the exertions 
of the Christian Church have been brought to bear only 
within the last fifty or sixty years, that for several of those 
years the efforts were few and feeble, and that even now 
the aggressive power of the Christian Church is far, far 
from what it ought to be. Surely, my Lord, we may say that 
this subject has not been sounded to its true depths, even by 
those who are conscientiously supporting our missionary 
institutions. Surely we may say that the liberality of the 
wealthy, the self-devotion of the enterprising, and the self- 
denial of all, are as yet but in their infancy in this great 
cause. For it is indeed a great cause, the cause for which 
our Lord and Saviour was content to be betrayed and given 
into the hands of sinful men. My Lord, no half measures 
can meet the demand made upon us by this great cause. 
No superficial opinions, no peradventures about what is 
truth, no natural principles of benevolence, or humanity, or 
social improvement, or love of progress — nothing of the kind 
can meet the majesty of this demand. Nothing can, I 
think, meet it but a deep, heartfelt conviction that the 
salvation of human souls is at stake, that Almighty God, 
in 1 1 is distinguishing mercy, hath given to us the one only 
way of salvation, and with it given us a command to give 
it to others. The statement, the divinely authenticated 
statement, was plainly made: 'No man cometh to the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 129 

Father but by me.' The command was plainly given: 
' Go into all the word and proclaim the glad tidings to 
every creature.' The great apostle, beholding his own 
beloved kinsmen after the flesh rejecting the one only 
saving remedy, poured forth his heart's desire and prayer 
before God for them, that they might not stumble at that 
stumbling-block, but receive it and be saved. And when 
he saw the Gentiles around him, the climax of his complaint 
against the obstinacy and prejudices of the Jews was that 
they forbade, and, as far as in them lay, hindered, the 
preaching to the Gentiles of the Gospel that they might be 
saved. St. Paul does not appear to have had the slightest 
idea of any man being saved and of his being permanently 
happy in fellowship with God, except through the know- 
ledge of Jesus Christ. Our Reformers all felt this, and 
our Church declares this. It is well for us to remember 
this; for the Eighteenth Article of our Church is now 
tortured and rejected by multitudes that have pledged 
themselves to its truth. 

' ' In these apostolical convictions of constraining power 
the faithful men to whom his Grace has just referred, and 
who founded this society, most fully participated. Since 
their time, and very largely within the last few years, much 
has been said and much has been written calculated to 
shake these convictions, and thereby and to that extent to 
weaken the spring of all true missionary zeal. In one of 
those ' Essays ' which have attained an unenviable notoriety, 
this solemn subject, the subject of the multitudes of the 
heathen world, in the light of their connexion with revealed 
religion, is formally discussed, and the doctrine of the ruin 
of our race by the transgression of the first man is rejected 
as incompatible, we are told, with the moral sense which 
God has given to all men ; and, if the sacred writers have 
really enunciated that doctrine, the essayist concludes that, 
in so doing, they have given us the results of their own per- 
sonal convictions, and not the mind of the Spirit of God. In 
other words, they cannot have been inspired of God, if they 
have said what is opposed to the moral sense that is in man. 
This is to beg the whole question of an authoritative revela- 
tion. Many questions are reduced to this result in the 
volume to which I have referred ; but on this great subject 
of the heathen the writer makes an admission, of which it is 
much to be lamented he did not more largely avail himself. 



130 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

He says— if indeed all are not to be equitably treated, accord- 
ing to their opportunities, whether they have heard or not 
of the name of Jesus — we may then accept the state of 
the Christian and non-Christian populations as a matter 
of difference of advantages. Why, this postulate required 
as a solution of the difficulty is the very doctrine of Holy 
Scripture. All shall be equitably treated. The servant that 
knew his Lord's will, and did it not, shall be beaten with 
many stripes. The servant that knew not his Lord's will, and 
did commit things worthy of stripes — here is the case of the 
heathen man ; he knew not, as the other did, his Lord's will, 
yet he committed . things worthy of stripes, his ignorance 
even is not an excuse ; but how commit things worthy of 
stripes, if he knew not his Lord's will ? Because he was not a 
stock, a stone, or a horse, but a servant. He was a servant. 
He had a certain knowledge of his Lord's will, though not 
that knowledge referred to in the case of the other servant. 
He had a conscience of his Master's authority, if he was a 
servant — a conscience accusing or else excusing him ; and 
though for many things which would have been disobedience 
in the other servant, he may not have been disobedient, yet 
in some things, however low his standard, his practice being 
lower, he became altogether inexcusable himself. It is 
therefore a gross misrepresentation to say that we charge 
the lost and ruined condition of the heathen upon their 
ignorance of the Gospel which they have had no oppor- 
tunity of hearing, No, it is upon their transgression 
of their own moral standard, their own conscience, which, 
every man bears within him — a measure of the law 
written in his heart ; for I say again, he is a servant — not 
a stone, a stock, or a horse- — but a servant, and did things 
worthy of stripes. But then he is beaten with few stripes. 
All is equitable. We may trust in God for that. It is 
more tolerable for the one servant than the other; and 
4 more tolerable' is the Master's expression — more tole- 
rable for Tyre and Sidon than Chorazin and Bethsaida. 
If ' more tolerable ' be everlasting happiness, then all who 
have not been taught may be everlastingly happy ; but if 
' more tolerable ' wear a different and much more painful 
aspect, we are compelled by our allegiance to authoritative 
revelation, either to admit the awfully solemn truth, or to 
throw off that allegiance, and deny the volume which contains 
that statement. Now it is of the utmost importance, for 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 131 

the sake of our missionary cause, that this question should 
be fairly tested and examined, and that the alternative 
should be forced upon the public mind, because I believe 
that there is such a love of moderation in our English 
people, that there is such a repugnance to extreme opinions 
and extreme measures, that half-and-half statements are 
doing more injury than bold and direct scepticism itself. 
We have a school of compromisers more to be dreaded in 
the recesses of our missionary work than open sceptics. 
And why do I refer to these things but because the more 
pointed distinctness in the initial sound is indispensable for 
power or plainness in the distant echo, and that, if we lose 
distinctness at home, we shall lose all power abroad ? I 
say, then, that we have a school of compromisers who 
ought, I think, to be brought to the test, Do they believe 
the Bible or not ? But in matters of human arrangement, 
in the affairs generally of human society, and the policy of 
human nations, compromise is often most judicious, for this 
reason : Where serious differences in human matters occur, 
there is no infallible perfection of knowledge on either side. 
Therefore, a mutual concession, which is a compromise, 
may be the nearest possible approach to true practical 
wisdom. To extend this principle to religion is to declare, 
concerning religious differences, that there is no infallible 
perfection of wisdom on either side : that is, that Almighty 
Grod has not spoken. Now, if He has not spoken, then all 
religious differences consist in human opinions, and one 
human opinion has as good a right to be considered as 
another human opinion ; and if we have nothing but human 
opinions, by all means, as modesty is becoming and charity 
is becoming, if we have only human opinions, by all means 
let us have compromises. If I say, Grod has not spoken, or if, 
though He has spoken,- we cannot ascertain exactly what He 
has said ; if His words be contained in books which contain 
other words besides, or if any part of them be contained in 
books and other parts are to be developed, at the convenience 
of the Church, from age to age, so that we may have a theology 
of the nineteenth century; in any of these suppositions we are 
at sea. All is uncertain. To talk of steering right or steering 
wrong is only talk ; for there is no standard. One man who 
is bold enough to take a stand for his own thought steers to 
the north, another steers to the south, a third to the east, and 
a fourth to the west ; and then come a multitude of smaller 

K 2 



132 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

men too moderate to be decisive. They dare not go quite 
to the north nor quite to the south. The softer among 
them would steer south-south-west ; and some of them of a 
bolder character would go right in the wind's eye and steer 
to the eastward; while all the while we have on board 
this craft certain cunning and clever men who are in- 
structed to join all the steerers, to encourage all the com- 
promisers, and to watch their opportunity until they can 
get command of the ship, and then steer her into the Tiber. 
We have such men. 

" Now if such teaching as this prevails, farewell to all 
missionary zeal. Farewell to all Christian certainty, all 
real conscientious convictions of truth. Farewell to all 
such constraining power of the truth of God as overcame 
the world. If such teaching prevails, farewell to that in- 
ward conviction which penetrates the nursery, and enables 
the mother and the sister to devote in secret prayer their 
darling boy to the cause of Christ in the mission field. 
How shall this certainty follow you, my friends to whom I 
now alluded ? How shall this certainty of truth for Jesus 
follow you into your secret recesses if you indulge curiosity 
at the expense of principle, and tamper with those beau- 
tifully written books which contain the small doses of this 
compromising poison ? Oh, let me earnestly entreat you, 
let me affectionately urge upon you, as an old man who has 
almost finished his course, that you refrain from the indul- 
gence of that curiosity which has given currency to that 
pernicious literature which has neither power nor life in it, 
because it compromises the truth of God's holy Word. 
And, my reverend brethren, allow me before I sit down to 
appeal to you. Oh, let no hesitation arising from such 
arguments or such assertions, or such difficulties — for there 
are difficulties in the way ; let no hesitation arising from 
such difficulties hinder you from a repetition, a bold and 
faithful repetition of the glorious Gospel of the grace of 
God. See how the great Apostle, without any ethnological 
or anthropological dissertations, boldly declares the ruin of 
the race by the first man ; so that this is not merely con- 
tained in ancient history, that might be explained away, or 
as some call it a poem, senii-nryth or semi-prophecy, but as 
the very basis of i he most logical arguments contained in the 
Epistle to the Romans, the foundation of the whole system 
01 apostolical truth. Oh, believe me, imitate him, declare 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 133 

this truth. ; and do not be afraid of the captious critic. 
Do not be afraid of the charge of only half education, 
which is thrown upon the Evangelical clergy, but show 
that you are not only half educated, but full educated. 
And do not let even difficulties which you are not at pre- 
sent able to solve stand in the way of the plain and faithful 
declaration of the Gospel. Rest assured, that no discovery 
has been made, that no discovery will be made, which, 
when fully tested, will operate against the plain, gram- 
matical, and practical understanding of the writings of 
Holy Scripture. Science of every kind is in its infancy. 
See, my reverend brethien, how the sacred writers, without 
any attempt to understand God, and without any hesitation 
to receive what this vast hall understands, speak of Him as 
Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and yet but one God. See, 
my reverend brethren, how the sacred writers, without any 
abstract arguments about justice and benevolence, declare 
the love of God towards our world to have been such as 
that, instead of acting as an indemnity, a soft indemnity to 
sinners, He gave His own co-equal Son, and was pleased to 
bruise Him, as a sacrifice and a ransom. See how the 
sacred writers, without any discussions whatever about 
what are called Church questions — without a word about 
Church architecture, or Church decorations, or Church pro- 
cessions, or anything of that kind — proclaimed the salvation 
of man by the knowledge of Christ, the duty of the pastor 
to preach Christ crucified, and the duty of the Church to 
send the pastor, that he may preach Christ crucified. Let 
us hope that the plain and faithful declaration of the 
Gospel, the only one glorious Gospel of the grace of God, 
the only sacrifice of the death of Christ, a full propitiation 
and satisfaction for the sins of the whole world, will be 
more entirely relied upon, without any mincing arguments 
against opposers of the atonement, but let there be a bold 
proclamation of it in spite of all. Proclaim it as a thing 
not to be gainsaid, or doubted, or argued upon in your 
mixed congregations. Argue it with yourselves, and in 
your studies ; but when you come into your pulpit — and I 
plead my privilege as an old man who may never stand 
upon this platform again for what I say — it is not to argue 
with a set of persons who are only disturbed, unsettled, and 
bewildered by your arguments ; it is to preach what you 
have already argued out for yourselves. It is not to be 



134 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

inquirers after truth, but ambassadors for Christ. And let 
the embassage have a certain sound ; and I will say, before 
I sit down, that that sound ought to be an unmistakable 
sound. Ours is a Protestant society. Ours are Protestant 
missions; and Rome is everywhere at work, and injures 
our missions, both at home and abroad. She assails them 
wherever we read of them in foreign lands, and she is 
undermining the very heart, and core, and source of them 
at home. But when all these dangers are fairly looked at, 
and all the exhortations arising out of them are fairly 
pressed upon the Christian public, there remains still the 
glorious consolation for the encouragement of the Christian 
heart, that there is no danger to the Church of God. What- 
ever danger there may be to Established Churches in this 
or other lands ; however one Church may fail, as other 
Churches have failed ; however the Church of England, as 
it is called, may follow the Church at Antioch or the Church 
of Pome, the Church of Christ is safe. The gates of hell 
cannot prevail against her ; and her missionaries are going 
from place to place, as we have just heard, preaching from 
the Gospel that fulness of the Gentiles which is to be pre- 
pared before the Lord, the King of the Jews, shall return. 
It is the fulness of the Gentiles and not of the world. Pre- 
eminence in everything is given to the Jews. They were 
missionaries, and Christian missions succeeded more while 
Jews were missionaries than they have ever done since. 
And when the King of the Jews shall re-appear, and all 
Israel shall be saved, the sentence will go forth, Life from 
the dead to the world. 

' The beam that rests on Zion's hill 
Shall lighten every land ; 
The King that reigns on Zion's tow'rs 
Shall the whole earth command.' " 

— Rev. Canon If 'Mile, of Liverpool, May, 1865. 

"Why are Christians so slow to believe the evidences 
that each day is forcing upon them ? If worldlings fail 
to observe any peculiarity in the times, surely the Bible 
student is inexcusable if these events should overtake 
him unawares. If the Word of God is true, we cannot for 
a moment doubt but that there will be desperate attempts 
made by the enemy against the true Church in the last 
days. We would especially press home this argument 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 135 

upon those who do not, or will not, see that Popery or, any 
other error, is making any progress. If a man had only 
just risen from the bowels of the earth, and had read and 
seen nothing but his Bible, he ought to, and probably 
would, declare just what is going on around us at this 
moment. Our guilt is not so surprising as our blindness 
in being unable to realize the events that are daily taking 
place. Yet there are those who accuse us of exaggeration 
and of magnifying dangers that have no real existence. 
The extraordinary delusion that exists in some minds as to 
the gradual improvement and enlightenment that are to 
herald in the latter days is to us perfectly unaccountable, 
and entirely opposed to all the warnings of Scripture. It 
being our firm conviction, however, that the spirit of evil 
is to wax worse and worse as the latter days approach, so 
are we determined to draw attention incessantly to those 
fundamental truths that Protestants are pledged to hold 
and maintain, and that every real believer should lodge 
and cherish within his heart. These are interests that 
concern the patriot and the Christian alike. Let Pro- 
testants of all denominations lay aside their minor differ- 
ences, and unite to defend, not forms or ceremonies, but, 
the fundamental doctrines and liberties of Christianity. 
Tiere must be no neutrality ; God calls us to decision. He 
sickens at lukewarm Christians, and rejects their service as 
if they were altogether hostile : genuine " charity rejoices 
iD the truth.' Let us strive for truth, and peace if we can 
get it. May the churches of all denominations be roused 
at once to a sense of their duties and their privileges. Let 
us study to know God's will, and then strictly and faithfully 
comply with it in all things. Remember that neither the 
influence of superiors nor the example of the godless mul- 
tirade will afford any excuse for going against the light of 
revealed truth. If Luther, and Wickliffe, and Knox had 
listened to the peacemongers, where would England have 
been at this moment ? To have peace with God we must 
be at war with the world. ' He that saveth his life shall 
lose it.' " — From the "Armourer." 

" My Lord, the resolution, which I have to submit to 
the meeting is, — 'That this meeting gratefully acknow- 
ledges the goodness of God in still further enlarging 
the resources and extending the operations of this Society ; 



136 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

and whilst rejoicing in the efficacy of the inspired Word 
for the accomplishment, through the Spirit's teaching, of 
all God's purposes of grace in the soul, desires to circulate 
it still more widely in every land, until the earth shall "be 
full of the knowledge of the Lord, as the waters cover 
the sea.' You will observe, my Lord, that this resolution 
refers to the efficacy of the inspired Word; it reassats 
the inspiration of the Bible and its sufficiency to accom- 
plish, by the Spirit's teaching, all God's purposes of grace 
in the soul, and on that ground to circulate it throughout 
the world. I will endeavour, my Lord, to keep as closely 
as possible to my text. The Society that seeks to circulate 
the Bible throughout the whole world used to be assailed 
by ridicule and profanity. That day is over, and criticism, 
apparently devout, and sometimes really so, seems to 
some minds, far more seriously than irreverent infidelity 
ever did, to assail the foundations of our faith ; and there 
are many minds painfully agitated by such questions as 
these — Is the inspiration of the Bible of a different kind 
as well as superior in degree to the inspiraration a1- 
tributed to men of genius, of literature, of science, of 
philosophy? — is the Book divine, and therefore inevitably 
true, or human, and therefore to be judged as we judge 
other human books, accepting just so much of it as ad- 
dresses itself to our judgment ? I think an easy mode of 
settling the authority of the Hcly Scriptures may be fouid 
from accepting the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ. 
Whether there is a Bible or no Bible, we have a Christ 
who died for us and rose again. There is a Christian 
Church, whether there is a Bible or not, and that leads is 
back eighteen centuries — back to the death and resurrection 
of our Lord and Saviour. The New Testament contahs 
the record by his immediate friends and followers of our 
Lord's actions and teachings, and if I accept the New 
Testament I accept the authority of Christ. But it is 
against the Old Testament that the attacks are chiefly di- 
rected. How men would value it if we could ask our Lord 
how we are to regard the Old Testament in the light of 
the present controversy ! That is impossible ; but we may 
gain the result, for the Old Testament was widely circulated 
in His time, not only in the Hebrew version but in the 
Greek version. Our canonical books were the canonical 
books then. If our Lord practically used the Old Testa- 




SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 137 

ment as a Divine Book, then, although I might he unable 
to bring forward any logical definition of inspiration, and 
to answer the objections in connexion with dates and figures, 
it would be sufficient for me to reply, from what is written, 
that the Lord Jesus Christ must have foreseen this contro- 
versy. Frequently He read the Book, He loved the Book, 
He quoted the Book as divine, and therefore I will love the 
Book, I will uphold the Book, I will spread the Book, and 
Christ's Bible shall be my Bible. Let us then come to the 
investigation, and I will endeavour to be as brief as I can 
consistently with my argument. We may learn how Christ 
treated the Bible in his youth from the manner in which 
He refers to it in his maturer years. At the commence- 
ment of his ministry He went into the wilderness to be 
tempted by the devil, and in that conflict between the great 
enemy of man and man's great Champion, the sword of 
the Spirit, with which our Lord conquered, was the Word 
of God. Quoting from the Book of Deuteronomy — one of 
the books of that Moses whose authority is now so much 
disputed — when the tempter said, 'Command that these 
stones be made bread,' our Lord said, 'It is written, Man 
shall not live by bread alone, but by every word that pro- 
ceedeth out of the mouth of God.' When the tempter 
said, 4 If thou be the Son of God, cast thyself down/ 
Jesus answered, 'It is written again, Thou shalt not tempt 
the Lord thy God.' When the tempter said 'All these 
things I will give thee, if thou wilt fall down and worship 
me/ Jesus said, 'Get thee hence, Satan, for ifc is written, 
Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and Him only shalt 
thou serve.' When our Lord commences His teaching He 
goes into the synagogue, and there was delivered unto Him 
the book of the prophet Esaias, and He quoted His 
favourite passage, 'The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, 
because He hath anointed me to preach the Gospel.' And 
then He said, 'This day is this Scripture fulfilled in your 
ears.' He began His ministry by an appeal to the Old 
Testament. At the beginning of His Sermon on the Mount 
He says, ' Think not that I am come to destroy the law ' — 
by ' the law ' meaning the five books of Moses — ' I am not 
come to destroy, but to fulfil.' Let it not be sujDposed that 
I come to set aside the authority of Moses and the Old 
Testament. Not a jot. 

"When they questioned Him about divorce, He said, 



138 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

'What did Moses command you? He wrote you this 
precept : from the beginning of creation God made them 
male and female. For this cause shall a man leave his 
father and mother, and cleave to his wife.' He quoted 
from the third chapter of Genesis, and did not seem to 
think it a poem, and not a fact. ' What good thing shall 
I do to inherit eternal life ?' inquired one. The reply was, 
< Keep the commandments ;' and He quoted from the book 
of Exodus, implying that obedience to the commandments 
would secure eternal life. When speaking of the resur- 
rection, He said, ' Ye do err, not knowing the Scriptures, 
nor the power of God. Have you not read that which 
was spoken unto you by God, saying, I am the God of 
Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.' 
Again quoting from Exodus, when asked, ' Which is the 
great commandment of the law ?' Jesus said, ' Thou shalt 
love the Lord thy God with all thy heart, and with all thy 
soul, and with all thy mind. This is the first and great 
commandment. And the second is like unto it, Thou shalt 
love thy neighbour as thyself,' quoting from Leviticus. 
Then again, 'As Moses lifted up the serpent in the wil- 
derness,' referring to the book of Numbers. Speaking of 
John Baptist, ' Behold I send my messenger before thy 
face,' He quotes from Malachi. When His disciples were 
found fault with for plucking the ears of corn on the 
Sabbath-day, He said, 'Have you not read what David 
did when he was an hungered and they that were with 
him ?' quoting from the book of Samuel. When asked, 
' Why do thy disciples transgress the tradition of the 
elders? for they wash not their hands when they eat 
bread,' He answered, 'Why do ye also transgress the 
commandment of God by your tradition? for God com- 
manded, saying, Honour thy father and mother ; and he 
that curseth father or mother, let him die the death,' 
quoting from Deuteronomy and Proverbs. He there 
quoted the Bible against Jewish tradition, old tradition, 
believed tradition. One verse of God's Bible is worth a 
waggon-load of tradition. Then our Lord said, 'Ye hypo- 
crites, well did Esaias prophesy of you saying, This people 
draweth nigh unto me with their mouth, and honoureth 
me with their lips, but their heart is far from me,' quoting 
from Isaiah. Then with respect to buying and selling, He 
said, ' It is written, My house shall be called the house of 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 139 

prayer,' quoting from Isaiah. To the Jews He said, ' It is 
■written, The stone which the builders rejected, the same is 
become the head of the corner,' quoting from the Psalms. 
When He was found fault with for allowing children to 
sing ' Hosannah to the Son of David,' He said, 'Have ye 
never read, Out of the mouths of babes and sucklings 
thou hast perfected praise?' quoting from the Psalms. 
When the disciples were asked why their Master ate with 
publicans and sinners, our Lord quoted a text from Hosea, 
' Go ye and learn what that meaneth, I will have mercy, 
and not sacrifice.' When He alluded to the manna in the 
wilderness, He quoted from Numbers ; and, in other pas- 
sages, He referred to the books of Bangs and Jonah, and 
that now disputed authority, Daniel. 

" In that most emphatic parable of the rich man and 
Lazarus, where the rich man is represented in torment, he 
cries out, ' Father Abraham, have mercy upon me, and 
send Lazarus, that he may dip the tip of his finger in 
water, and cool my tongue ; and I pray thee that thou 
wouldest send him to my father's house ; for I have five 
brethren : that he may testify unto them, lest they also 
come into this place of torment. Abraham saith unto him, 
They have Moses and the prophets ; let them hear them. 
And he said, Nay, father Abraham ; but if one went unto 
them from the dead, they will repent. And he said unto 
him, If they hear not Moses and the prophets, neither will 
they be persuaded, though one rose from the dead.' The 
written authority of the Old Testament was regarded as a 
higher authority than the testimony of any one from the 
tomb. And then to the Jews He said, ' Had ye believed 
in Moses, ye would have believed in me. But if ye 
believe not his writings, how shall ye believe my words ? ' 
— showing that there is a sense in which the written Word 
is superior to the living voice. Then there is our Lord's 
exhortation, i Search the Scriptures, for in them ye think 
ye have eternal life, and they are they which testify of 
me.' And then, coming to the end, speaking of the deser- 
tion of His disciples, He says, ' It is written, I will smite 
the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock shall be scattered 
abroad,' quoting from Zechariah. Just before His passion, 
in the last act of worship in which He engaged with His 
disciples, He chanted the 113th, 116th, 117th, and 118th 
Psalms. When betrayed, His holy, perfect human nature 



140 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

was rightly indignant, and He said, l Are ye come out as 
against a thief with swords and staves to take me ? I sat 
daily with you teaching in the temple, and ye laid no hold 
on me. But all this was done that the Scriptures of the 
prophets might be fulfilled.' When Peter drew his sword, 
Jesus told him to put it up again, saying, ' Thinkest thou 
that I cannot now pray to my Father, and He shall presently 
give me more than twelve legions of angels ? But how 
then shall the Scriptures be fulfilled, that thus it must be ?' 
" When dying on the cross, His last words were quoted 
from the Bible, ' My God, my God, why hast thou forsaken 
me ? ' Up to the last moment He treated the Bible as a 
divine authority. And what did He do with reference to 
the Bible on His return ? ' Beginning at Moses and all 
the prophets, He expounded unto them in all the Scriptures 
the things concerning Himself.' It is a marvellous thing 
that the risen Lord, instead of dwelling on his resurrection 
as a proof of His Messiahship, should turn to the written 
document to prove His mission. And when He met His 
disciples all together He took a piece of broiled fish and 
honeycomb, and He said, 'These are the words which I 
spake unto you while I was yet with you, that all things 
must be fulfilled which were written in the law of Moses, 
and in the prophets, and in the Psalms concerning me. 
Then opened He their understandings that they might 
understand the Scriptures.' So that the Lord referred to 
the Bible as a whole — to the Bible in its grand divisions, 
to the Bible in its separate books. Considering the small 
narrative we have, we may suppose that our Lord's refer- 
ences were much greater. But here we have distinct 
references to Genesis, Exodus, Numbers, Leviticus, Deu- 
teronomy, Samuel, the 1st Kings, the 2nd Kings, the 
Psalms, the Proverbs, Isaiah, Jeremiah, Ezekiel, Daniel, 
Hosea, Micah, Joel, Zechariah, and Malachi. Our Lord 
Jesus Christ, to whom I look as the supreme authority in 
all religious matters — the divine Saviour — God manifest in 
the flesh, used the Bible as we urge all the world to use 
the Bible. He read it in private, storing it in His memory, 
used it in His devotions, went to it for comfort in His 
sorrows, for strength under temptation, and died with its 
words upon His lips. As a teacher He referred to it at the 
beginning of His ministry, throughout His ministry, up to 
the close of His ministry, after His resurrection. He 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 141 

referred to it as a book peculiar, a book paramount, a book 
divine. Yes, our risen Lord referred to it. He who is 
now at the right hand of the Father referred to it. I think 
without irreverence I may say that our Bible has been in 
the hands, and our Bible has been expounded by the lips 
of the glorified body of Jesus now on the throne in the 
heavenly world. And therefore may I not be encouraged 
to read it, and trust to it as the guide of my life, for 
strength in my perils, for comfort in my sorrows ? If good 
enough for the Master, is it not good enough for the ser- 
vant ? Shall we not say, in the words of the children's 
hymn, ' We'll not give up the Bible ' ? This Society, 
according to the words of the Resolution, means to spread 
it more and more widely, and with every increasing con- 
fidence in its divine authority and capability to effect all 
that Grod has purposed through it. Let us read it daily — 
let us read it in private — let us store it up, that we may 
not sin against it — let us read it daily in our households — 
let us honour it in our churches — let us test all our doctrines 
by the Bible — Christ's Bible. Let us bring all our contro- 
versies to Christ's Bible as the ultimate court of ecclesias- 
tical appeal. While we value the writings of all good men 
of all ages, we will test all we have to say by the authority 
of Christ's Bible. To the law, and to the testimony. We 
love the Bible. We love it for what it is in itself. We 
love it for its association with the Lord Jesus Christ. How 
many things we prize because of this association. Why, I 
value even a bit of furniture connected with the memory of 
those I love — the desk at which he wrote, the chair on. 
which he sat, the book associated with our friend's mind, 
his favourite authority and his marked passages — the Bible 
of our friend, associated with the high exercises of his soul. 
How I love my dear father's old Bible. I see his marks 
in the margin, I see the traces of his tears, of his joys, of 
his sorrows, of his holy communion with the God he loves. 
I love it, for it is his Bible. And shall I not love it because 
it is my Christ's Bible — the Bible my Saviour loved? 
There are his marks upon it, the traces of his fingers, the 
marks of his tears, the echoes of his sighs, and his songs, 
and his prayers. And therefore whatever difficulty assails 
me, and whatever question perplexes me, and whatever 
enemy of truth comes to unsettle my faith, I am ready to 
gay, if my Lord read the Bible I'll read it, if He loved it 



142 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

I'll love it, if He taught it I'll teach it, if He found comfort 
from it I'll find comfort from it, if He upheld the divine 
authority of it I'll uphold the divine authority of it. When 
the enemies of my faith come, I will say, this testimony 
have I taken as a heritage for ever, and strong men in 
Israel and greyheaded Christians shall mingle their deeper 
tones with the silver treble of infant disciples, and shall 



" < Holy Bible ! Book divine ! 

Precious treasure ! thou art mine — 
Mine to show a Saviour's love, 
Mine to chide me when I rove, 
Mine to comfort in distress, 
If the Holy Spirit bless : 
Mine to show my living faith, 
Mine to triumph over death, 
Mine to tell of joys to come, 
Mine to guide to heaven, my home : 
Holy Bible ! Book divine ! 
Precious treasure ! thou art mine. *" 

— Rev. Newman Sail. 

"Put aside the declaration of God's word, suppose a 
city to be occupied by persons whose works a^e as follow : 
adultery, fornication, uncleanness, licentiousness, idolatry, 
witchcraft, hatred, violence, emulation, wrath," strife, re- 
viling, and such like. Suppose a community of such 
persons, all bound up in these works, would you, or would 
you not, say that that was a community of intensely 
wretched beings? For, observe, according to your own 
principle, aU the persons who have these tendencies must 
be in perfect liberty to carry out their principles to the 
very utmost. Tell me — never mind the Bible for a moment 
— let us have a community like that ; let us have a land, 
and fill it with that class of people, what would be going 
on ? Let London go free to-morrow ; take out of London 
nil who are opposed to these things, and what would you 
have — heaven or hell? I ask any sceptic who says 'I 
don't believe about God, and Christ, and the word of God.' 
These are simple fads. We want not the Bible for them : 
they are facts, abounding around us. There are thou- 
Is of men in London wlio delight in all these things; 
and there is a certain law of the land to prevent them 
going to excess. Kemove the law — give them perfect 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 143 

liberty, and would London be bell or beaven ? Again, 
suppose you bave a place filled witb people abounding in 
tbese fruits love, joy, peace, long-suffering, gentleness, 
goodness, faitb, meekness, temperance. Now, sceptic, 
honestly, as in tbe sigbt of God (if you will allow that 
expression), if you bave a place occupied exclusively by 
men and women of tbat stamp, taking away all tbose wbo 
perform tbe works mentioned in tbe former cas« ; let 
London be occupied by tbe latter, let tbem bave perfect 
liberty — tbat is, liberty to love, liberty to forgive, liberty to 
be boly and to be pure — and I ask you, would tbat be bell 
or beaven ? Is not tbat a tremendous argument in favour 
of tbe Bible ? because tbe Bible condemns tbe former, and 
avowedly produces tbe latter. Now, wbat do infidels say 
to that as a fact? This is the Bible's own statement. 
There is no man, let him be the veriest infidel who ever 
lived, who would not be compelled to admit that, if you 
were to give up London to the former, you would have 
hell ; and if you get the latter, by the confession of any 
man of common sense, you would have beaven, for you 
cannot conceive a moral character of a higher or a more 
delightful state of social existence than would be at once 
secured." — Rev. Capel Molyneux. 

In tbe selection of tbese quotations it has been tbe 
desire of tbe compiler to remember tbe young ; for, 
while it is expedient to be cautious as to bow much, 
and bow deeply some corrupt errors are unfolded before 
tbem, it is also necessary in tbese days tbat . young 
people should be properly informed. Indeed, there is 
no safety in ignorance either for old or young ; but it 
is grievous and touching to think how great are tbe diffi- 
culties surrounding tbe latter. Many are led out of tbe 
school-room into tbe drawing-room, to take part witb 
whatever they may find ready prepared for tbem in 
their several positions. In too many cases little sym- 
pathy is met with in anything profitable (sometimes 
not even rational). It is melancholy to think of the 
years of busy toil in the school-room being in so many 



144 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

cases dishonoured, and the pupils making so little use of 
what has cost them so much labour to attain, excepting 
indeed music and dancing to amuse and attract, which 
are freely indulged in. The sad consequences of this 
are manifest in the self-will and vanity, which now cha- 
racterize the young, in place of that retiring modesty 
and discretion which so become them. The dress and 
manners display a distortion of all that is graceful and 
suitable, and ignorantly " they glory in their shame." 
This fact proves that mothers are to blame. The rising 
generation, in their inexperience, gladly avail them- 
selves of an open door for indulging in the novel excite- 
ments and strange amusements of the day, urged on by 
the sad example of their superiors in age. The young 
are naturally prepared to fall in with the tastes and 
habits of those with whom they are associated. Many 
enter into life to join others who not only " live without 
God," but make to themselves false gods, and worship 
them. In these days of superficial refinement, evil prin- 
ciples are presented in an attractive form, being embel- 
lished by terms which do not mark their real enormity, 
and therefore induce many persons to regard sin as no 
sin (while religion — so called — is often on the tongue). 
What vital distinction is there between an idol made of 
stone standing in the corner of the room to be worshipped, 
and the idol found in the wardrobe ? or in amusement ? 
or in vieing with their neighbours to gratify their own 
love of display ? Living to self and sinful gratifications 
ever must be under the curse of a doomed world ; and 
no oft-repeated church-going, sacraments, prayers said 
with crosses, &c, can cover from God's eye the source 
from which it all springs — a deceitful heart, unbelieving 
and destitute of the love of Him who came to seek and 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 145 

to save that which was lost, will account for even sup- 
posing that all is safe with the soul when all is in 
imminent danger. " For though thou wash thee with 
nitre, and take thee much sope, yet thine iniquity is 
marked before me, saith the Lord Grod" (Jer. ii. 22). 
The desperate wickedness in the heart of man produces 
that infidelity which acts as a guard against the dictates 
of the natural conscience. Thus multitudes are kept 
easy and unconcerned, satisfying themselves, saying, 
" Grod is very merciful," instead of crying, " God be 
merciful to me a sinner." But to return to the position 
of these young people. What unnecessary time and 
money are wasted in providing for themselves the never- 
ceasing novelties and cruelties of dress. We would 
insert here a word of warning : — 

" To the Editor of the Times. 

"Sir, — Will you allow us to bring under the notice of 
your readers the melancholy fate of hundreds of young 
women and children, who, as artificial florists, are suffering 
in the most terrible manner from handling and inhaling 
the cruelly destructive poison with which they colour the 
brilliant green leaves now so much the fashion ? During 
their work in the stifling atmosphere necessary for the 
process, they wrap their faces tightly round with towels, 
but all precautions are baffled by the subtle character of 
the light powder, which penetrates the system, producing 
inflammation and ulceration of the mucous surface of the 
body. The account in the Times about two months ago of the 
inquest on Matilda Scheurer, who was proved to have been 
poisoned by emerald green, led us to investigate the sub- 
ject, and we find that in other instances death has been 
attributed to the same cause. Some have only escaped her 
fate by discontinuing the employment for a time. The 
workers generally dread the occupation, but dread still 
more the alternative of being without work. We believe 
that those who, attracted by the gay and brilliant green, 
risk the danger to themselves of wearing it, will, when 



146 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

they become aware of the suffering occasioned by its pre- 
paration, abandon it for a more natural, and, we think, 
more becoming colour; and we send a statement, kindly 
made by an eminent professor of chemistry, which we hope 
may command attention. 

" Your obedient servants, 

"GrEORGLNA COWPER, 

" Elizabeth Sutherland, 
" Secretaries to the Ladies' Sanitary Association." 

u Royal College of Chemistry, January, 1862. 

" I have examined carefully the green colouring matter 
of the artificial leaves from a lady's head-dress which you 
have sent me. 

" In a dozen of the leaves sent me an analysis has pointed 
out on an average the presence of ten grains of white 
arsenic. I learn from some lady friends that a ball wreath 
usually contains about fifty of these green leaves. Thus, 
a lady wears in her hair more than forty grains of white 
arsenic — a quantity which, if taken in appropriate doses, 
would be sufficient to poison twenty persons. The immense 
consumption of arsenic colours, and their reckless use 
under various conditions prejudicial to health, certainly 
claim the special notice and the consideration of the public. 
Not satisfied with poisoning the wreaths which adorn the 
heads of our women, modern trade introduces arsenic with- 
out scruple even into their dresses. The green tarlatanes 
so much of late in vogue for ball- dresses, writes Erdmann, 
of Leipsic, contain as much as half their weight of 
Schweinfurt green. The colour is loosely laid on with 
starch, and comes off by the slightest friction in clouds of 
dust. I am told that a ball-dress requires about twenty 
yards of material — an estimate probably below the mark, 
considering the present fashion. According to the above 
analysis, these twenty yards would contain about 200 grains 
of white arsenic. A Berlin physician has satisfied himself 
that from a dress of this kind no less than sixty grains 
powdered off in the course of a single evening. 

" It will, I think, be admitted that the arsenic-crowned 
queen of the ball, whirling along in an arsenic cloud, 
presents, under no circumstances, a very attractive object 
of contemplation. But the spectacle — does it not become 
truly melancholy when our thoughts turn to the poor 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 147 

poisoned artist who wove the gay wreath in the endeavour 
to prolong a sickly and miserable existence, already under- 
mined by this destructive occupation ? 
" I remain, dear sir, 

"Yours very sincerely, 

"A. W. HOFMANN." 
" To the Eight Honourable William CoTrper, &c." 

How much more might be added to this testimony 
to the sad condition of poor humanity! Deplorable 
are the exhibitions both at home and abroad. What 
an abuse of that covering which sin has made a neces- 
sity. The old and the young now seem to vie with 
each other in an endeavour to appear the most unwise 
and ridiculous. They regard not the painful cost to 
others at which their folly and vanity are gratified. 
The days and nights spent by their poor sisters in the 
human family, plying the needle with weary hands and 
heart, sickened with relays of finery passing from hand 
to hand, hastened on by oft-repeated words of pressing 
urgency — "Work on!" "Lazy girls, do hurry the 
work !" " The dresses will never be in time ! " " Here is 
this grand ball and two concerts close upon us, and our 
best customers have all to be pleased !" " Ladies calling 
and through your idleness I shall lose their custom !" 

"Lady said to-day, if I disappointed her, she 

would never give me another order." " Oh, my head 
aches so ! and I think I shall faint." " Never mind," 
said the head " lady " of the room ; " it is only three 
o'clock — you shall have a cup of green tea." In reply, 
one of the young women said, " Well, it is a pity the 
ladies do not give us more time ; they do not know the 
number of stitches to make a dress." " I suppose they 
do not think of us, so long as they get what pleases 
them." " Not only that," added another, " but many 

l 2 



148 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

ladies will leave their orders to the very last, because 
they will not have a similar dress to their own in the 
room." "How is that?" said a third. "Oh, that is 
the pride of the thing — the last fashion, and the only 
dress." How solemn, when all this is considered in 
connection with " the last fashion " for the poor lifeless 
body. 

The sufferings and injustice borne by the dress- 
makers are well known and mourned over by some ; but 
so long as the many heed them not, is it not well to 
remind such ladies of what they are causing now, and 
refer them to that time when all shall stand before the 
great white throne ? the books will then be opened, and 
they will be "judged out of those things which were 

written in the books, according to their works 

And whosoever was not found written in the book of 
life was cast into the lake of fire." To this we would 
add a beseeching voice to each one, to " consider her 
ways," to " prove all things," and to try and discover 
now the hardhearted selfishness which will have to be 
accounted for when it will be too late to repent. 

Those who live for this world are only doing what 
is, of course, natural to them. They know not the 
blessed deliverance of being " crucified to the world," 
and the world unto them. They weigh all things in 
the scales of unbelief: and what is unbelief but in- 
fidelity ? How many would shrink from the thought 
of being infidels, who nevertheless are satisfied in 
" living without (rod in the world." Are none infidels 
but those few who openly profess to be such before 
man P When " the lust of the flesh, the lust of the 
eye, and the pride of life " constitute the life of any 
one, is it not infidelity in the sight of Grod ? While 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 149 

His "words of life and death " become a dead letter to 
them, in keeping with all this worldliness, their life 
is sustained by the exciting and pernicious " sensation 
novels, 1 with other injurious reading. The heroes and 
heroines of such fictitious romances are not behind the 
religionism and infidelity now so prevalent in the world. 
They likewise traffic with the Holy Scriptures, quoting 
texts now and again ; otherwise the books would fail in 
bringing in the profit ! The authors are not afraid, 
but dare to scatter the word of life on the surface of 
their poison. How many Christians would rejoice if 
all such books were piled up and burnt. Were the 
writers of such ruinous productions brought, through 
Divine teaching, to see and feel what enemies they are 
to the holiness and purity of Christ and truth, their own 
hands would kindle the fire to destroy what is helping 
on the infidelity and corruption of this shameless age. 

One sin is never satisfied to abide alone ; it is in- 
genious in multiplying its kind. Added to this unholy 
use of Scripture by which these false books are made 
acceptable to the blinded conscience, the world's religion 
is being nurtured by the false theology of carnal 
romances, which are dressed up with texts of Scripture. 
Other books, which are still more deadly and poisonous, 
being full of licentious infidelity, also use the Scripture, 
for the double objects of seeking to destroy its own truth, 
and conveying to their readers what they wish to be 
taken for granted as right and good, namely, being 
found in a "religious book." 



150 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 



LEEETICAL BOOKS, 

ES OF CLERGY 
OF ENGLAND. 

Verily we are living in a curious age. During the 
last year two societies have been advertising themselves 
and their publications, one calling themselves " a com- 
mittee of clergy," the other " several clergy ;" and, 
under these two very equivocal identities, have been 
published at London and Oxford severally, thousands 
of small catechisms, books of devotion, manuals for 
communicants, and a variety of other small fry of 
tractlets, that we do not hesitate to assert are doing 
more injury to the multitudes who may unfortunately 
meet with them than the worse productions of Holy- 
well Street could effect : for whether a man loses his 
soul by the publication of false doctrine or the 
obscenities of glaringly vicious prints, we do not think 
it can be of the slightest consequence. These nameless 
Jesuits are the growing pests of our reformed faith. 
The Rev. S. A. Walker has, in the appendix to his 
recent pamphlet, drawn attention to a publication 
entitled " The Altar Manual," which we shall also 
refer to at some future time ; but we have now before 
us " A Catechism of the Chief Things which a Christian 
ought to Know and Believe to his Soul's Health," 
" Edited by Several Clergymen," and published at Ox- 
ford, in which is contained some of the grossest Popery 
that any E-oman Catholic book could possibly produce. 
We merely quote expressions taken from some of the 
answers of the various questions. The "Ever- Virgin 
Mary," oalled by the Church "the Mother of God." 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 151 

" No sure way of salvation out of the Church." " We 
have a share in the prayers of the saints in Paradise." 
"It is a pious practice to pray for the dead in Christ, 
whose happiness is not yet complete." " The blood of 
Jesus is applied to the soul in baptism." " All sins are 
not equally sinful ;" yet " Grod hath left power to His 
Church to put away deadly sins." Even " flesh meat 
is forbidden on all Fridays, Grood Friday, and the 
other days of Lent." " We ought to confess our sins 
to our pastor, or some other priest whenever they 
trouble us." " Not to marry during Advent or Lent." 
" Christ's incarnation is the instrument of our salvation 
through the sacraments." " Confirmation is a means 
whereby we receive the Holy Grhost." " The bread and 
wine become the body and blood of Christ by the con- 
secration pronounced by the priests." " The special 
office of a priest is to celebrate the Eucharist, and to 
absolve penitents." " There are seven deadly sins" (the 
same as mentioned in the Church of Rome). "There 
are seven corporal works of mercy," and " three eminent 
duties." Previous to saying the "Short Forms of Morn- 
ing and Evening Prayer," " cross yourself, as expressed 
by the printed t." 

The above quotations are word for word. These are 
the teachings of many hundreds of ministers who are 
eating the bread of the Reformed Church of England. 
If any member is rash enough to complain to the 
Bishop, he is told, as we were once, that " such com- 
plaints must come through the proper authorities." 

If some Bishops were not in full sympathy with 
these kind of clergy, there would be no painful necessity 
for others to add testimony to testimony to prove that 
it is the case. There is a penitentiary in Holywell 



152 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Street, Oxford, of which the Bishop of Oxford is patron. 
A Christian lady became a visitor there, believing that, 
as the institution bore the name " Protestant," the 
teaching and treatment of the inmates would neces- 
sarily be conducted on Protestant principles. The lady 
was not long in seeing that everything so resembled 
what she had seen in such places in a Poman Catholic 
country, that she commenced an inquiry, and found 
that the confessional was regularly organized and 
steadily carried on by a young clergyman from one of 
the colleges, who attended periodically for the purpose. 
In a room upstairs, he and one young woman after an- 
other, alone, knelt together before a large cross (previous 
to which he put on his surplice). The lady visitor can 
testify that the character of this confession partook 
exactly of the ordinary corruption of the confessional of 
the Church of Borne ! ! Small blame to the lady for 
informing herself fully, and then writing to the patron ! 
She did so, and gave him a true and complete report of 
facts. The Bishop did not reply to it himself, but sent 
the letter to the " Lady Superior " of the institution, 
and in her reply to the Bishop (which he forwarded to 
the lady), she writes : — 

" My dear Lord, — I have read Mrs. 's letter, which 

you enclose. The Sister Superior made her the true and 
direct answer. "We in no way go beyond the line laid 
down in the Prayer Book, and which leaves those who are 
burdened with sin free ' to open their griefs and receive 
the benefit of counsel and absolution.' .... We 
are very careful that none are admitted to confession but 
those who really do feel the burden of sin ; and who dare 
deny to sin-laden souls, such as we seek to save, the com- 
fort and help which the Church of England provides for 
thorn ?" &c, &c. 

June 13, 18C2. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 153 

At two public meetings held in Reading, December, 
1863 (at which the author was present), the Chairman 
said — 

"We are met here to-night, as I understand, as a body 
of professed Christians, to speak upon a matter of con- 
siderable moment to all persons of that name and pro- 
fession, inasmuch as we believe that a great ecclesiastical 
authority in this diocese has been the medium through 
which much unsound doctrine has been propounded to the 
public and to the clergy of the Established Church in these 
counties. I understand that to be the position which we 
assume to-night — as censors, in one sense — to express our 
judgment upon that which has been uttered publicly by 
the Bishop of Oxford. I call upon the Rev. John Aldis, 
who will address you." 

The Rev. J". Aldis spoke as follows : — 

"I have to address you on ' the Divine presence with 

the Church.' The Bishop of Oxford speaks of it in 

relation both to infidelity and dissent. He denies the 
existence of the Divine presence with Dissenters, or at least 
the ' certainty and fulness ' of it ; and tells us that if we do not 
hold with him, that a special sacramental presence of God 
is realized in the Episcopal Church, we are the victims of 
the master principle of unbelief, and can ultimately hold 
no position short of a ' dull naturalism,' or atheism. Those 
portions of the recent Charge which appear to me to contain 
these representations, I will now read : — 

" ' The next hindrance most frequently named by you is 
one of a wholly different class, and assails the spiritual 
authority of our office. It is the presence of " dissent " in 
jout parishes. The number of the separatists is often 
said by you to be small, but you find them weaken your 
ministerial influence, and disturb the minds of your flocks. 
This seems to me to point out one main cause of the 
"hindrance," and where we are to find its remedy. We 
want more distinctive Church teaching for our own people. 
We believe that we do possess, as we cannot see that others 
do, Christ's direct commission for our ministry, and a cer- 
tainty and fulness therefore of His presence, and of His 
sacramental working, which, to say the least, may be lack- 



154 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

ing elsewhere. If we do not hold as muck as this, we must 
dissent from the plain language of our own Ordination 
Service ; and if we do, we must teach as well as live as those 
who are possessed by this belief. We need not be con- 
tentious. God forbid that we should be uncharitable in 
our mode of stating the truth according to the principles of 

our own Church, but the truth we must state Now 

that master principle is, as we have seen, the denial of the 
presence with us of the supernatural, and so the with- 
drawal from us of the presence and of the acting of a per- 
sonal God ; against this, therefore, we must strive equally 
everywhere in nature and in grace, and in grace equally in 
every part of its blessed kingdom. For if we yield one part 
of the truth here, it will be in vain for us to seek to main- 
tain the rest. Thus, for example, we shall in the long run 
be unable really to maintain the divine authority of Holy' 
Scripture, if we give up the divine authority in its proper 

place of the Holy Catholic Church Without such a 

witness there could have been no Bible, no booh which we could 
receive, as a whole, as the record of God's revelation. How, 
again, unless the Divine Spirit, as a really present Person, 
acts indeed upon separate hearts, regenerating, converting, 
renewing, purifying, strengthening, and saving them, can 
any of the means of grace within her be anything else than 
what these writers so profanely pronounce them to be, lying 
magical delusions ? There can, in the strife which is forced 
upon us, be no intermediate position between the dull 
naturalism to which so many are tending, and a simple 
faith in God's presence with His Church, and so a hearty 
belief alike in her sacraments, her creeds, her orders, and 
her Bible, as the separate portions of the great system of 
instruments, through which her God, her Saviour, and her 
Sanctifier are present with and working in her.' 

" The Bishop of Oxford says: 'Now that master prin- 
ciple is (of the sceptical delusion), as we have seen, the 
denial of the presence with us of the supernatural, and so 
the withdrawal from us of the presence and of the acting of 
a personal God.' Now I have put this sentence in every 
light possible for me, and it seems absolutely contradictory 
or absurd. If it mean that this master principle denies 
the presence of the supernatural, and also denies that the 
presence and acting of a personal God is withdrawn, that 
is plain enough indeed; but it is a senseless tautology, for, 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 155 

of course, that cannot be withdrawn which was never there. 
Or if it mean that this master principle denies the presence 
of the supernatural, and affirms the withdrawal of the pre- 
sence and action of Grod, that is a stupid contradiction : for 
it affirms, first, that a thing was never there ; and second, 
that it is taken away. Or if it mean, that to deny the pre- 
sence of the supernatural teaches or involves this with- 
drawal, that is only another form of the contradiction just- 
pointed out. Or if it mean that the denial causes the 
withdrawal, then, in addition to an equal contradiction, it 
attributes to the ' master principle ' a power which belongs 
to nothing on earth — actually to take away the presence and 
working of the Almighty. Or if it mean that whatever 
denies the presence of the supernatural, necessarily denies 
also the presence and the action of a personal Glod, then I 
reply, that millions amongst us must flatly contradict his 
lordship ; for in a thousand things we devoutly recognize 
the one where we find no trace of the other. Or else, 
perhaps, the emphasis lies on the words ' with «*,' so that the 
Church of England is to be regarded as holding that Grod 
is not with them, nor acting amongst them, except super- 
naturally. In other words, that the only Divine presence 
possible for man is sacramental. From other parts of the 
Charge, this appears the more probable interpretation, and 
it is against this dogma that I intend to speak. But at all 
events the sentence is sadly obscure, and I confess that I 
am not impressed by it, either with the power of the 
bishop's intellect, or the clearness of his language. 

" The method with which he proposes to deal with dissent 
is quite as strange. He alleges that the bare ' presence ' 
of dissent in a parish assails the * spiritual authority ' of 
the clergyman's office — a statement which every Dissenter 
knows to be untrue, and which many others feel to be 
absurd. I know of only two forms of the Divine presence 
ever pretended to by religious men. The first is called 
sacramental, because it is mainly, if not exclusively, to be 
enjoyed through the intervention of the priest, and in con- 
nection with the sacraments. The second is called spiritual, 
because it is realized in each heart by the power of the 
Holy Ghost. The one makes religion a thing of form, to 
be performed for us by the ceremonial, and dependent for 
its certainty and worth on the proper appointment of man. 
In the other, religion is moral and spiritual, wrought 



156 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

within us by the grace of God, and is dependent solely 
upon the sovereign supremacy of Jesus Christ our Lord. 
The first is that which the bishop claims, and which we 
affirm that he has not. The second we claim, not as our 
exclusive patrimony, but as that of all who believe, whether 
in the Chuch of England or out of it. 

"That the bishop claims this sacramental presence, 
appears to me most certain. Some portions of the Charge 
may appear to teach the contrary ; but, carefully examined, 
they do not. The presence he claims is that which he 
cannot see amongst Dissenters. It is connected with 
sacramental working, and imparts an equal efficacy to the 
creeds and orders of the Church and to the Eible. It is 
called l supernatural ' — a word never used by those who 
hold a spiritual and gracious influence, but familiar with 
those who wish to have it understood, that the bishops 
occupy the same place, and possess the same power as the 
apostles ; and who further wish us to believe that the exercise 
of the sacerdotal function works out results analogous to the 
miracles of our Lord. It is, finally, something which has 
been denounced as 'lying magical delusions,' which might 
possibly be the case with sacramental ceremonies, which 
are alleged to accomplish supernatural results. Now, this 
sacramental presence we utterly deny. First, it is without 
Scripture warrant. I need hardly occupy your time in 
attempting to prove this. We are sure that a matter of 
such vital importance would be most explicitly stated in 
the Word of God. If the priest is to be to us what our 
Lord was, and we are dependent upon him for access to 
God, and communication from Him, the most unequivocal 
declaration of that fact is indispensable. But search the 
New Testament through, and you will find nothing con- 
cerning it. For instance, the apostles are nowhere en- 
joined to administer the sacrament of the Lord's Supper, 
nor is there any clear example that they ever did so, and 
yet, according to the bishop's theory, all "the efficacy of the 
sacrament depended on the grace they could bestow. It is 
without evidence. According to the old maxim, if a thing 
does not appear, we conclude that it does not exist. The 
presence of God in nature is manifested by His works. If 
nothing were done, we could not know that God is, much 
less what He is. So if the bishops have the supernatural 
with them, and working by them, something will be done 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 157 

or manifested. This is all we want. We stand, as Isaiah, 
stood before the idols of the heathen, and say, 'Bring 
forth your strong reasons .... that we know ye are 
gods ; yea, do good, or do evil, that we may be confounded 
together.' Multitudes of those who are declared to have 
been regenerated in infancy, may be found in every con- 
dition of ungodliness and crime. I have known young 
persons confirmed, and, of course, they had actually re- 
ceived the Holy Ghost; but I have never known them, 
after the operation, better or worse, more or less worldly, 
wiser or more foolish. This, the greatest change that can 
be experienced in the life of man, is thus a practical 
nullity. Now, for me, that is no Divine presence which I 
can in no way perceive ; that is no power which does 
nothing ; and that is no grace which neither enlightens 
or sanctifies. To allege the Divine name for such useless 
trifling, looks very like taking it in vain. To tell us that 
this is certainly the best, and probably the only presence 
and action of a personal God, astonishes me with the ex- 
tent of human arrogance, or, if I believed it, would drive 
me to despair. This sacramental presence is contradicted 
by the evidence. The Divine presence with the Church is, 
on all hands, confessed to be emphatically the presence of 
Christ. The ultimate foundation of confidence in regard 
to it, is His promise, ' Lo, I am with you alway, even unto 
the end of the world.' This sacramental presence dis- 
honours God. Jesus said, 'I will send you the Comforter.' 
On the day of Pentecost the Spirit was poured out in His 
fulness. This is the fountain of all spiritual life and 
power. All who will may seek a share in it, and none 
shall seek in vain. That Spirit speaks in and by the 
"Word, and every one who reads or hears in faith, listens to 
the voice, and feels -the grace of God. The doctrine of 
sacramental grace admits, indeed, the outpouring of the 
Spirit ; but it affirms that it has been deposited in certain 
reservoirs, and can flow down to man only through certain 
channels. The bishops are said to be both the reservoirs and 
the channels. But in this country, though the prime 
minister cannot ordain the bishops, he must determine who 
shall, or shall not be ordained. Thus these channels are 
in the hands of man. The spiritual turncock can turn the 
supplies on or off at will, or stop them altogether. The 
'certainty and fulness' of the Divine presence may be 



158 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

turned in one direction to-day by Lord Palmerston, and in 
another to-morrow by Lord Derby. Though, this grace is 
for the salvation of the soul, the course it shall take de- 
pends, not on the good pleasure of the Almighty, but on 
the caprice, the passions, or the sordid interests of a 
parliamentary majority. All this may seem very holy and 
good to the Bishop of Oxford ; to me it seems both impious 
and wicked. To allege such things concerning the cha- 
racter and conduct of the Almighty in the dispensation of 
His grace, shocks me more than the ravings of atheism. 
Even in my poor earthly life, I had much rather men 
should say that I did not exist, than that I did such things 
as these." 

The Eev. E. Bulmer then spoke : — 

" . . . Dissenters as a body, the Bishop of Oxford terms 
a l hindrance ' to the clergyman's work ! If that work has 
been the work it ought to have been, we deny the charge ; 
if it has not, why then we are thankful for the com- 
pliment. I hold in my hand a rare specimen of distinctive 
Church teaching — a copy of a tract, which is just now cir- 
culating in Theale, which may give you some idea of the 
work we do hinder. I will read one or two extracts : — 
'The plea of "conscience" is a modern artifice on the 
part of Dissenters, who wish to see themselves regarded as 
martyrs. To sum up. Some or other kind of State re- 
ligion has existed in every nation of ancient or modern 
times, with but very, very few exceptions. Egypt, Persia, 
Greece, Carthage, regal, republican, and imperial Rome, 
Druidical Britain, and a multitude of states and empires, 
bear us out. No matter whether that religion were Jewish, 
Pagan, Mahomedan, or Christian ; in all cases there was 
a State-united creed. If all nations, in all ages of the 
world, have deemed a national religion a necessary adjunct 
to secular government, are English Dissenters, for their own 
caprice and ends, to be quietly permitted to overturn that 
branch of Christ's Holy Catholic Church which has for 
well-nigh 1,300 years been established in these realms, to 
the great spiritual and temporal blessing of the Anglo- 
Saxon race ? " Presumptuous are they, self-willed, they are 
not afraid to speak evil of dignities." How graphically do 
these words describe a large body of the Dissenters of the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 159 

present day, including some well known as writers and 
preachers. Foremost among those Dissenting ministers, 
notorious for their abusive language towards the Church, 
are Thomas Binney, Newman Hall, Edward Miall, 0. H. 
Spurgeon, not to name other less-known champions of 
schism and the separation of Church and State. Most 
faithfully does St. Paul portray and condemn, in 2 Tim. 
iv. 3, schism. Even in his time he had to deprecate per- 
sons calling themselves (as we should say) " Paulites," 
" Apostolites." So also would he condemn the Irvingites, 
the Glassites, the Calvinists, the Wesleyans, &c, of the 
present day. Such is the vicious — inherently vicious — 
nature of dissent, that even when a body of persons secede 
from the Church, and form themselves into a separate com- 
munity, the new community hold together but a short time. 
Thus the " Baptists," originally a single sect, have con- 
stantly fallen out amongst themselves. We have now the 
"General (Unitarian) Baptists," "General (New Con- 
nexion) Baptists," "Particular Baptists," "Seven-day 
Baptists," " Scotch Baptists," &c, all sects of a sect ; 
circumstances (and many others might be adduced) show- 
ing the utter rottenness, the unscripturalness, and conse- 
quently, the wickedness of dissent. "They heap to 
themselves teachers." This was true in 66 a.d. ; it is still 
true in 1861 a.d.' 

"Now let me ask, if that be distinctive Church teaching, 
is it not a time for dissent to assert itself? Are not the 
true hinderers of the Word of God those who thus poison 
the minds of the people — who sow bitter seeds of dissen- 
sion, rail against good men, and, after the example of one 
I need not name, quote Scripture for their wicked pur- 
poses ? Again, the bishop proposes sidesmen, whose special 
duty is, he says, to ' see that all the parishioners ' (there is 
to be no exception in the case of Dissenters) ' duly resort 
to their church upon all Sundays and holy days, earnestly 
calling upon, and admonishing, those who are slack 
and negligent,' and finally ' presenting the obdurate.' 
Now, if this charge had not been spoken by a grave 
bishop, in such a grave place, and to such grave people, 
and amid so many gravities, one would have fancied that 
the bishop had been betrayed into a little humour here. 
Think of the sidesmen — a kind of ecclesiastical detective or 
special police for church extension — in this the nineteenth 



160 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

century. In England, too, where we do not hesitate to 
put the person who acts as a spy on our ordinary goings, 
under the first pump we come to. Suppose, for example, 
that to-day is a holyday appointed in honour of some saint 
of blessed and inscrutable memory ; but here we have been 
instead of being at church. Suddenly there come into our 
midst men of severe countenance and repute, noting us all 
down, or, if they are able, trooping us all off, hanging our 
heads like whipped boys, with our good father and friend, 
Mr. Legg, at the head of us, to pay fourpence apiece for 
the benent of the clergy. Show me the man upon whom 
the love of the Father has cast its everlasting bands, with 
the blood that ever speaks for pardon and for peace upon 
his conscience — whose wanderings from Glod have been 
stayed by the overcoming grace of the Spirit — who believes 
on my Saviour, loves my Saviour, on whom my Saviour 
sees His growing image — and who is going up with sing- 
ing to the many mansions which constitue but one Father's 
house : how would you treat him, churchmen ? ' He is a 
Dissenter,' says the bishop, ' don't come near him.' 'What ! 
but the life-blood of the Saviour is upon him.' 'Never 
mind; our sacramental water has not besprinkled him.' 
'He is forgiven of G-od.' 'Never mind; he has not re- 
ceived priestly absolution.' ' He has partaken of the body 
and blood of Christ.' 'Never mind; he has not received 
the consecrated elements from ordained fingers.' 'He 
loves the Saviour.' 'Never mind; he pronounces not our 
shibboleth.' 'He is trying to save souls — casting out 
devils.' ' Never mind ; let the prodigal wander, and the 
brands go down to their burning, and poor lost souls perish 
from our very doors, rather than any effort be put forth 
out of "Church order."' Oh, shame upon the spirit, 
though it breathe on a bishop's bench, and from the high 
places of the sanctuary itself, which thus outrages alike 
the Christian and his Lord! 'Whom God hath joined 
togther, let not man put asunder.' " 

The Eev. W. Legg, B.A.:— 

"Now, what is the 'distinctive Church teaching' to 

which the l>ishop of Oxford alludes, which is to aid the 

jy, and be a remedy for the presence of dissent? Let 

the distinctive Church teachers speak for themselves. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 161 

Bishop Jeremy Taylor, in his 'Episcopacy Asserted,' says : 
1 The sum of all is this, that Christ did institute apostles 
and presbyters, or seventy-two disciples. To the apostles 
He gave amplitude of power, for the whole commission 
was given to them in as great and comprehensive clauses 
as were imaginable ; for by virtue of it they received a 
power of giving the Holy Ghost in confirmation, and of giving 
His grace in the collation of Holy Orders, a power of juris- 
diction and authority to govern the Church ; and this power 
was not temporary, but successive and perpetual, and was 
intended as an ordinary office in the Church, so that the 
successors of the apostles had the same right and institution 
as the apostles themselves had. The apostles did give power 
of administering sacraments, of absolving sinners. And all 
this, I doubt not, but was done by the direction of the Holy 
Ghost, as were all other acts of apostolic ministration ; and 
so I will vindicate the practices of the present Church from 
the common prejudices that disturb us, for by this account 
episcopacy is not only a divine institution, but the only order 
that derives immediately from Christ.' Dr. Hicks, another 
of the distinctive teachers, says : ' Bishops are appointed to 
succeed the apostles, and, like them, to stand in Christ's 
place, and exercise the kingly, priestly, and prophetical 
offices over their flocks. Can you, when you consider this, 
think it novel, or improper, or uncouth, to call them 
spiritual princes, and their dioceses principalities? For 
what is a prince but a chief ruler of a society, that hath 
authority over the rest to make laws for it, to challenge the 
obedience of all the members, and all ranks of men in it, and 
power to coerce them if they will not obey ? They stand in 
God's stead, and in Christ's stead, over their flocks ; the 
clergy, as well as the people, are to be subject to them as 
to the vicegerents of our Lord. ... I need not tell 
you how much the ancient Christians stood in aiue of the 
apostolic rod in the hands of their bishops, especially of excom- 
munication, which they look upon as the spiritual axe and 
sic or d to the soul, and thought more terrible than death.' 
Ajad Dr. Hook, the present Dean of Chichester, says: 
' Some persons seem to think that the government of the 
Church was essentially different in the days of the apostles 
from what it is now, because they do not find the names 
and titles of the ecclesiastical officers precisely the same. 
We ask, what was the fact ? and the fact was this, that the 

M 



162 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

officer whom we now call a bishop, was at first called an 
apostle, although, afterwards it was thought better to con- 
fine the title of apostle to those who had seen the Lord 
Jesus, while their successors, although unendowed with 
miraculous powers, exercising the same rights and authority, 
contented themselves with the designation of bishops. The 
prelates, who at this present time rule the churches of these 
realms, were validly ordained by others, who, by means 
of an unbroken spiritual descent of ordination, derived their 
mission from the apostles and from our Lord. This con- 
tinued descent is evident to every one who chooses to investi- 
gate it. Let him read the catalogues of our bishops, 
ascending up to the most remote periods. Our ordinations 
descend in a direct unbroken line from Peter and Paul. 
.... And from their time, an uninterrupted series of 
valid ordination has carried down the apostolic succession in 
our churches to the present day. There is not a bishop, 
priest, or deacon amongst us, who cannot, if he pleased, 
trace his own spiritual descent from St. Peter and St. Paul.' 
"Let us now see how this ordination is transmitted. 
Archdeacon Mason, in his 'Defence of the Church of 
England's Ministry,' puts the question, 'Does schism or 
heresy take away the power of consecration ? ' The answer 
is, 'Neither heresy nor degradation from the office of a 
bishop, nor schism, nor the most extreme wickedness (quamvis 
enim viri essent omnium secleratissimi), nor anything else, 
can deprive a person, once made a bishop, of the power of 
giving true orders? 'This,' he goes on to say, 'we joyful) 'y 
embrace? This is distinctive Church teaching, and surely 
every pious mind must revolt at the thought of the de- 
fenders of an important section of the Protestant Church 
joyfully embracing the impious position that a bishop is a 
true bishop, though a heretic and the most wicked of men. 
But unless that be granted apostolic succession must fall to 
the ground. It must perish or be received through the 
hands of the moral monsters who were in the succession at 
Pome. Yet all this must be maintained to support the 
arrogant assumptions of the bishops. Thus Bishop Taj-lor 
says : ' Without the episcopacy no priest, no ordination, 
no consecration of sacraments, no absolution, no rite or 
sacrament Legitimately can be performed in order to 
eternity.' Dr. Hook says further: 'Unless Christ be 
spiritually present with the ministers of religion in their 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER. SIGNS. 16 

services, those services must be vain. But the only minis- 
trations to which He has promised His presence is to those 
of the bishops who are successors of the first commissioned 
apostles, and the other clergy acting under their sanction 
and authority.' He adds: 'I know the outcry which is 
raised against this by those sects which can trace their origin 
no higher than to some celebrated preacher at the Refor- 
mation. But I disregard it? In these extracts you have 
the main features of the system, which the Bishop of 

Oxford calls ' distinctive church teaching.' From 

the creation to the coming of Christ the Church was never 
built on any men, or order of men, but was founded on the 
living God. It is fair, therefore, to ask the distinctive 
teachers where they find their personal succession scheme, 
or any importance attached to it ? It is not in the Bible, 
it is not in the Constitution and Canons of the Church of 
England, it is not in her Articles, nor can I find it anywhere 
in the Prayer Book. I am afraid it is a tradition from 
Pome, adopted to lead back this dear old England of ours 
into that false Church, whose essential element is the sub- 
jugation of the human mind to human authority in matters 
of religion. A gospel minister is God's own positive insti- 
tution. Ministers are Christ's ascension gifts to the Church. 
Whenever a revival of vital godliness has taken place the 
work has been done, not by the pretended succession 
bishops, but generally in spite of them — by nonconformists. 
The Waldenses in the valleys of the Alps ; the Lollards 
in England ; Luther, Melancthon, Calvin, Zwingle, and 
Emox; the Puritans in their day, and the Wesleys and 
Whitfield in later times, are all full proof of what I say. 
The English reformers are no exception to this remark. 
Who broke up the fallow ground, and sowed the seed of 
the Peformation in England ? Who watered it with their 
tears and blood before Henry VIII. quarrelled with the 
Pope ? The bishops ? Emphatically, No ! They imprisoned 
.the saints, and shed their blood like water. You devout 
members of the Church of England, who tremble for your 
children's future faith, teach them to read 'Eoxe's Book of 
Martyrs. They will there learn that Protestantism had its 
worst enemies among the apostolical bishops. As an order 
they all sided with antichrist, excepting only five. As 
a nonconformist minister, it gives me great pleasure to 
mention those hallowed names — Cranmer, Latimer, Pidley, 

M 2 



164 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Hooper, and Jewell. Would I could have recited five 
hundred instead of five, our country would not have been 
in the state it is to-day. Since their time, it must be 
confessed that the persecution of the Puritans, and alt 
the injuries and insults offered to nonconformists, have 
generally originated with the bishops. Thanks to a kind 
Providence, their power is limited, and ptiblic opinion is 
going on to limit it more and more. Still, there is an 
apostolic succession which I claim for myself and my 
brethren; it is the only supreme and essential rule of 
succession, namely, the preaching of the truth, of the faith, 
of the doctrine taught by the apostles. We want Christ 
crucified, and the demonstration of the Spirit. The Rev. 
Edward Bickersteth, in his excellent work, ' The Christian 
Student,' quotes Bishop Lavington's charge to his clergy in 
or about the year 1750, in which he says: 'My brethren, 
I beg you will rise up with me against moral preaching. 
We have long been attempting the reformation of the 
nation by discourses of this kind. With what success ? 
None at all. On the contrary, we have dexterously 
preached the people into downright infidelity. We must 
preach Clmst and Him crucified. Nothing but the Gospel 
is, nothing besides will be found to be, the power of 
God unto salvation. Let me, therefore, again and again 
request — (may I not add, let me charge ?) — you to preach 
Jesus, and salvation through His name.' Now, if moral 
preaching, which at least may appeal to common sense, 
only preached the people into infidelity, what other fruit 
can we expect from mere Sacramentarianism ? Pusej'ism 
is simply a reaction on the then widely-spreading evan- 
gelization in the Church; Eationalism is a reaction on 
Puseyism ; and from Eationalism there is but one step to 
Infidelity, and that step has been taken by a bishop, who 
says that « Moses is a myth ; ' and if so, we know that Christ 
can be nothing more, for He says, 'If ye had believed 
Moses, ye would have believed me.' The inference is, he 
that believes not Moses believes not in Christ. 

If the truth of the Gospel had been left to the Succession 
men, it would have perished long ago. The fishermen of 
Galilee, the poor men of Lyons, the Huguenots in Prance, 
the Lollards in England, Luther (the monk) in Germany, 
the stripling Wesleys and Whitfield at Oxford— these, 
these have been God's instruments — this, this is the sue- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 165 

cession to which. I feel it to be my glory to belong. Let 
all human schemes perish in their turn when abused to 
prevent the progress of Gospel truth and holiness. If mine 
is not a plant which my heavenly Father has planted let 
it be rooted up ; I shall be a gainer. The Lord liveth ; 
blessed be His holy name ! Blessed be His name for 
His servants — His holy ministers of every denomination ! 
Blessed be His name for His martyrs ! His confessors ! 
above all, blessed be His name for the unspeakable gift of 
His Son, and of His holy truth, transmitted by the 
Scriptures, and a holy ministry, from generation to 
generation." 

The Eev. J. F. Stevenson, B.A. : — 

''Speaking of the Church and the Bible, the 

bishop says : ' We shall, in the long run, be unable really 
to maintain the divine authority of Holy Scripture if we 
give up the divine authority, in its proper place, of "the 
Holy Catholic Church." The two are absolute correla- 
tives.' If the bishop simply means to say that the 

Bible came down historically through the channel of the 
Church of Christ, he is saying what every Sunday-school 
boy knows. I have too high an opinion of his common 
sense to believe for a moment that he would announce so 
jaded a truism to an audience of clergymen, and especially 
that he would propound it as a sovereign remedy for 
scepticism. If the bishop means any more than that, then 
he can only mean that the authority of the Church is our 
guarantee for the truth of the Bible — that is to say, the 
Bible is to be received as true because the Church declares 
it to be true. The bishop means this latter, or he means 
nothing. There is no escaping the dilemma. If the 
words of the charge are not absolute nonsense, or school- 
boy platitude, they declare that the Bible is nothing until 
it has received the imprimatur of the Church. This is the 
announcement which is to crush the scepticism of Bishop 
Colenso, and reply to the 'Essays and Reviews.' I know 
not what the bishop may call it, I can designate it only 
by one name — it is Popery" 



166 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

" Signor Gravazzi lias been lately lecturing in Bayswater, 
London, on ' Eomanism in England.' Amongst very many 
practical remarks, he observed that i selfishness alone, if no 
better feeling, ought to induce ministers of the Gospel to 
treat more of the practical questions of the times, and less 
of mere dogmatic theology ; for if the present indifference 
continued, the flocks ayouM soon leave their several pastors.' 
And the lecturer fully and strongly pointed out the faith- 
lessness of both civic and ecclesiastical officials in respect to 
this state of things. He dwelt upon the several doctrines 
of the Puseyite party, and proved how analogous they were 
to the licentious, absurd, and blasphemous dogmas of the 
Church of Eome ; and asserted, from his knowledge of facts, 
that many in our Church held dispensations from the Pope 
to remain nominal Protestants, in order that they may the 
more effectually betray us and secure their object." 

Signor Gravazzi's assertion is nothing new to some 
persons, or in any wise questioned by others who are 
familiar with what he so faithfully exposes. Puseyism 
and Popery in the Church of England is pregnant with 
means for making free-thinkers and infidels — an ignis 
fatuus — fascinating and bewildering common sense — 
while it exhibits its lurid phantoms until the deceived, 
in their disappointment and disgust, hopelessly sink in 
the swamp of no belief whatever, and find relief only in 
that which for the present moment gratifies the sensuous 
nature. Thus, individuals, finding the rigidity of cold 
ritualism, with the repetition of its dead services, irk- 
some and disappointing, seek repose in that which is its 
natural reaction, namely, the ancient, but still modern, 
creed of the infidel — "No Grod." We may truly 
sympathize with these unhappy wanderers, particularly 
when we have ourselves been led through, and proved 
these wordly fallacies. 

Multitudes are brought up with the false notion that 
religion and the Church of England are inseparable — 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 167 

that everything safe and proper must be secured in 
being a member of a national Church, thus regarding 
every other position for worship as ignorant and low, 
and well meriting the usual opprobrium of " vulgar 
dissent," &c, and therefore beneath the standing of the 
upper classes. This view reacts upon others, who, with 
those whose favour is closely allied to their temporal 
interests, regard one another as the first and most 
respe3table people in the land. They take for granted 
that no occasion can be given for their own hearts, or 
the judgment of others, to question the purity of their 
religion or the respectability of their characters, so long 
as they strictly adhere to the services and ordinances of 
their Church, having been duly baptized (viz., made 
"regenerate, and grafted into the body of Christ's 
Church," and taught to lisp from infancy, " wherein I 
was nade a member of Christ, a child of Grod, and an 
inherror of the kingdom of heaven " ! !) and " con- 
firmee" in the same ! ! 

Mmh of the teaching in the Church of England is 
founcbd on the following specimen, taken out of 
" Hynns for Little Children," of which " the two 
hundiedth thousand" are in circulation amongst 
Episopal children : — 

" See, then, the font, the Church's door; 
The group with gladsome look ; 
The waters, and the priest to pour, 
The sponsors and the book. 

" And he — of innocence that wears 
That sign and spotless vest, 
How shepherd-like, like Him that bears 
The lambkin in His breast. 

" But hark, the tiny Christian's name ; 
Hush ! 'tis the mystic Trine ; 
The water and the Spirit came, 
And there is life divine. 



168 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

" The cross is signed — mysterious seal 
Of death our life that won ; — 
And Christ's dear spouse for woe or weal 
Hath born her Lord a son." 



A few words may suffice here, as important information 
and facts will follow concerning this matter. Probably 
some one is now reading this book who is the very sub- 
ject for exhortation and warning. For your precious 
soul's sake, for all that concerns you when you shall 
open your eyes in eternity, " prove all things " nor, for 
" Behold, now is the accepted time ; behold, now is the 
day of salvation." Examine, according to the Gospel 
of Christ what you are listening to and engaged in 
every seventh day, when the "going to church" fuiets 
and satisfies the consciences of multitudes. "We srould 
acknowledge and cordially admire the wisdom of these 
adherents to the Church of England, and we woiid as 
cordially co-operate with them, were this- icorld al that 
concerns us ! For probably few have left the Qiurch 
of England without personal results proving the truth 
of what has just been stated, those who have lei the 
Establishment are made to feel the tenacity of ahers, 
for they not unfrequently find themselves regarced as 
having * ; lost caste ! " But let everything have iti own 
due; the Church of England, from its very insti- 
tution, assumes for her members a position Thich 
gives a sort of definite standing, and in the judgnent 
of some people that standing is reliable and covpled 
with honour. Such honour may well be dispensedvvith 
by those who are led to " dissent " from a " State 
Church," from a full conscientious conviction that n so 
doing they come under the promise — "Him hat 
honoureth me I will honour." (The almost universal 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGN'S. 169 

abuse of the term " dissent " can only continue so long 
as the State Church is looked upon as "the mother 
Church " invested with the only pure religion.) But ere 
long the true Christians within her pale will probably 
be compelled to follow those who have already left her. 
They will not be able to associate any longer with her 
natural children, who, coming to sufficient maturity, 
manifest the evils of her constitution in tlie forms of 
Broad Church, High Church, Popery, and Infidelity ; 
these are at enmity against each other (like Herod and 
Pilate), and only become friends when united action is 
necessary to uphold " the mother Church " against the 
truth which enforces nonconformity. 

It is a glorious fact that Gk>d blesses His truth for its 
own sake, to the salvation of many in the Church of 
England, but this great goodness only increases the 
responsibility of those who preach it. For they have 
virtually to sap the constitution of their ecclesiastical 
position in laying the foundation of a sinner's only hope 
in the death and resurrection of Jesus Christ. It is this 
inconsistency which has compelled many servants of 
Grod to leave her, affording proofs of the overruling 
power of the Holy Grhost. 

How many Christians of late have been enabled to 
overcome natural prejudices, and to separate from that 
which they have discovered to be one of the offences 
which must come, and to bear with the result of a step 
which is regarded by many as bondage, but by them 
deliverance. 

"With pain and confusion we must declare that the 
ancient bulwarks have been broken down ; the wild boar 
of the wood is devastating the vineyards, and playing 
havoc with our most costly treasures. Is he to be driven 



170 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

out ? We fear not. Are we content to lodge with him, 
and own him as a neighbour and a friend ? Many seem to 
be debating the question. But our answer is,' — No ; we de- 
pended for security on our sentinels and outposts, they have 
slept, the enemy is now within the walls, and it would be the 
height of complacency to say, Well, let us be agreed, and 
try to live together as friends. No — ten thousand times 
No ! To remain would be slavery of soul and body. We 
must withdraw from what we cannot mend ; otherwise, at 
our Lord's r*eturn, we shall be thought to be in league with 
His foes. We urge these considerations upon the evan- 
gelical clergy, for we sadly fear they are lingering in 
Sodom at the peril of their own safety, and of the honour 
of the cause they have promised to defend. We believe 
that trials and temptations are at hand which would, if it 
were possible, ' deceive the very elect.' 

" He who was a liar and murderer from the beginning 
has been most successful in his deceivings by being an 
imitator of God. You often see this in Scripture, and 
especially in the Revelation. God has wise virgins ; Satan 
has virgins also — false. Christ sows good seed — wheat; 
Satan sows seeds, too — tares. God has a vine — ' the true 
vine ;' Satan has a vine also — ' the vine of the earth.' 
Christ has a bride ; Satan has a harlot. God has a city — 
the New Jerusalem ; Satan also has a city — Babylon. But 
none of his imitations seem so vile as in Eev. xiii. — none 
so perfect in blasphemy against God. For instance, God 
had a man, His dear Son, who is in the bosom of the 
Father, to bear witness for Him in the earth ; Satan will 
have a man also — the man of sin. God did ' miracles and 
wonders and signs ' by Jesus of Nazareth ; Satan's servant 
will come too 'with all power, and signs, and lying 
wonders ' (compare Acts ii. 22 with 2 Thess. ii. 9). God 
will have all worship Jesus, and bow the knee to Him, for 
He is worthy ; so Satan will have all that dwell upon the 
earth to worship 'the beast,' whose names are not written 
in the book of life. The saints of God shall have His 
name 'in their foreheads;' so the worshippers of 'the 
beast ' ' shall receive a mark in their right hand, or in 
their foreheads.' But worse than all this is the direct 
blasphemy against God. The Gospel of the grace of God 
now gives testimony to the love and wisdom and power of 
the Triune God — Father, Son, and Holy Ghost ; so we se^ 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 171 

in this chapter that Satan has a trio also — the beast, false 
prophet, and the image that doth speak ; all energized by- 
one lying spirit — all united in blaspheming God and 
deceiving man. This infernal outrage, venting itself in 
direct antagonism to Christ, seems to fill up the measure 
of iniquity, and bring speedy vengeance from heaven by 
the glorious appearing of the Son of Man in great power 
and glory, who will consume this wicked one with the 
spirit of His mouth, and destroy with the brightness of 
His coming. Both the beast and the false prophet are 
cast alive at once into ' the lake of fire burning with brim- 
stone ' (2 Thess. ii. 8 ; Eev. xix. 20). Happy for us who 
believe that ' when Christ, who is our life, shall appear, 
we also shall appear with Him in glory ' (Col. iii. 4)." 

We are now about to quote from a most interesting 
and instructive book, " The Two Babylons," by the 
Eev. Alexander Hislop. (Houlston and Wright.) 

"If Eome be indeed Babylon of the Apocalypse, and 
the Madonna enshrined in her sanctuaries be the very 
Queen of Heaven, for the worshipping of whom the fierce 
anger of Gk>d was provoked against the Jews in the days 
of Jeremiah, it is of the last consequence that the fact 
should be established beyond the possibility of doubt ; for 
that being once established, every one who trembles at the 
Word of God must shudder at the very thought of giving 
such a system, either individually or nationally, the least 
countenance or support. At every step the evidence to 
prove the identity of the Eoman and Babylonian systems, 
becomes still more overwhelming. But that which arises 
from comparing the different festivals is peculiarly so. 
The festivals of Eome are innumerable, but five of the 
most important may be singled out for elucidation — viz., 
Christmas, Lady-day, Easter, the Nativity of St. John, and 
the Feast of the Assumption Each and all of these can 
be proved to be Babylonian. And first, as to the festival 
in honour of Christ, or Christmas. How was it that that 
festival was, connected with the 25th of December ? There 
is not a word in the Scriptures about the precise day of 
His birth, or the time of the year when He was born. 
What is recorded there implies that at what time soever 



172 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

this birth, took place, it could not have been on the 25th 
of December. At the time the angels announced the birth 
to the shepherds of Bethlehem, they were feeding their 
flocks by night in the open field. It was not the custom 
for shepherds to watch their flocks in the open fields later 
than about the end of October. It is, therefore, in the 
last degree incredible that the birth of Christ could have 
taken place at the end of December. Indeed, it is admitted 
by the most learned and candid writers that the Lord's 
birth cannot be determined, and that, ivithin the Christian 
Church, no such festival as Christmas was ever heard of 
till the third century, and that not till the fourth century 
was far advanced did it gain much observance. How, 
then, did the Eomish Church fix on the 25th of December 
as Christmas-day. Why, thus; long before the fourth 
century, and long before the Christian era itself, a festival 
was celebrated among the heathen at that precise time of 
the year, in honour of the birth of the Babylonian Queen 
of Heaven ; and it may fairly be presumed that, to con- 
ciliate the heathen, and to swell the number of the nominal 
adherents of Christianity, the same festival was adopted 
by the Roman Church, giving it only the name of Christ. 

" This tendency on the part of Christians to meet 
Paganism half-way, was very early developed; and we 
find Tertullian, even in his day, about the year 230, 
bitterly lamenting the inconsistency of the disciples of 
Christ in this respect, and contrasting it with the strict 
fidelity of the Pagans to their superstitions. Upright 
men strove to stem the tide; but in spite of all their 
efforts, the apostasy went on, till the Church, with the ex- 
ception of a small remnant, was submerged under Pagan 
superstition. 

"That Christmas was originally a Pagan festival, is 
beyond all doubt. The time of the year, and the cere- 
monies with which it is celebrated, prove its origin. In 
Egypt, the son of Isis, the Egyptian title for the Queen 
of Heaven, was born at this very time, i about the time of 
the winter solstice.' The very name by which Christmas 
is popularly known amongst ourselves — Yule-day — proves 
at once its Pagan and Babylonian origin. * Yule ' is the. 
Chaldee name for ' infant,' or < little child ;' and, as the 
25th of December was called by our Anglo-Saxon an- 
cestors ' Yule-day,' or the * child' s-day,' long before they 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 173 

came in contact with Christianity, that sufficiently proves 
its real character. 

" The wassail-bowl of Christmas had its precise counter- 
part in the ' Drunken Festival ' of Babylon ; and many of 
the other observances still kept up among ourselves at 
Christmas, came from the very same quarter. The candles 
lighted on Christmas- eve, and used so long as the festive 
season lasts, were also lighted by the Pagans on the eve of 
the festival of the Babylonian god, to do honour to him, 
for it was the distinguishing peculiarity of his worship, to 
have lighted wax-candles on his altars. The Christmas- 
tree, now so common amongst us, was equally common in 
Pagan Pome and Pagan Egypt — in Egypt, the palm ; in 
Pome, the fir. . . . Yea, the ' Christmas goose ' and the 
' Yule cakes ' were essential articles in the worship of the 
Babylonian messiah, as practised both at Egypt and at 
Pome. 

" The next great festival in the Popish calendar gives 
the very strongest confirmation to what has now been said. 
That festival, called Lady-day, is celebrated at Pome on 
the 25th of March, in alleged commemoration of the 
miraculous conception of our Lord in the womb of the 
Virgin, on the day when the angel was sent to announce 
to her the distinguished honour that was to be bestowed 
upon her, as the mother of the Messiah. But who could 
tell when this annunciation was made ? The Scripture 
gives no clue whatever in regard to the time. But it 
mattered not. Before our Lord was conceived or born, 
that very day now set down in the Popish (and Church of 
England) calendar for the ' Annunciation of the Virgin,' 
was observed in Pagan Pome in honour of Cybele, the 
mother of the Babylonian messiah! Now, it is manifest 
that Lady-day and Christmas stand in intimate relation to 
one another. Between the 25th of March and the 25th 
of December there are exactly nine months. If, then, the 
false Messiah was conceived in March and born in Decem- 
ber, can any one for a moment believe that the conception 
and birth of the true Messiah could have so exactly 
synchronized, not only to the month, but to the very day ? 
The thing is incredible ! Lady-day and Christmas-day, 
then, are purely Babylonian festivals. 

"As to the connection between Popery and State Pro- 
testantism (notwithstanding the difference of doctrine) 



174 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Goldwin Smith, a clergyman, and Begins Professor of 
Modern History at Oxford, thus writes in reply to Lord 
Stanley — ' The English Establishment is a relic of that 
great European establishment of the middle ages, of 
which the Papacy was the centre and the life.'' If so, then 
the Church of England, as by law established — not her 
doctrine, but her State connection — is part and parcel of 
* Babylon the Great ' — a member of ' the great whore ' that 
rides the beast. 

" The Divine contrast of the woman on the least on earth, 
is the woman on nothing in heaven (see Pev. xii). This is 
God's idea of a Church (see Col. iii. 1 — 3, and Eph. ii. 
5 — 7). So far is the woman from standing on sublunary 
things, that she stands above the moon, with no visible sup- 
port ; for she walks by faith, not by sight, and is sustained 
by the unseen God. This heavenly system is called ' the 
new Jerusalem, ' in allusion to ancient Jerusalem, ' the city 
of the great King,' and in opposition to 'Babylon the 
great.' The one is a 'chaste virgin,' the other is ' a great 
whore.' The virginity of the former consists in her simple 
dependence on God ; the whoredom of the latter consists 
in her dependence on the world ; and as old Babylon per- 
secuted old Jerusalem, so new Babylon persecutes new 
Jerusalem ; for all State Churches are necessarily perse- 
cutors of the true bride. The serpent's sting may, indeed, 
be destroyed, but his hiss will ever be heard. Popery, 
State Protestantism, and world Protestantism are all guilty 
of persecution in some shape or other." — " Babylon the 
Great" Phil-ax. 

Let those, then, who profess to belong to the new 
Jerusalem see that they are not found in the new 
Babylon persecuting the true bride. What have the 
followers of Jesus to do with condemned Christendom 
in a doomed world ? " Come out of her, my people." 

" The world and the world's Church will go hand in hand, 
and each will choose the same head and king. 'If another 
sliall come in his own name, him ye will receive.' The 
Jew, the world, and the nominal Church will own one head, 
but not the rightful Lord and Christ. Some may not 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 175 

follow these remarks ; but it is well for us to discern things 
that differ. The Holy Scriptures do speak of a time 
of universal blessing ; but in no place do they encourage 
the fond hope of the world being better in this age or 
dispensation. There is an age of glory, of peace, and of 
love coming. But prophecy warns us of the world's apos- 
tasy, and of the apostasy of the Church, too. In taking 
this scriptural and most simple view of things, we learn to 
understand the true condition of the world, of the pro- 
fessing Church, and of the true Church. The course and 
end of each one of these will appear in their true light. 
The world is but ripening for its coming fearful judgment. 
The end of this ' Christian dispensation ' will be Hke the 
close of the Jewish one (2 Pet. ii.); full corruption will 
manifest itself." 

Many signs already trouble weak and unestablished 
believers ; twelve churches of the High Church school 
are now in full force in London. In all, in the diocese 
of London, sixty such churches are numbered. The 
humble-minded need not fear. The Almighty has in 
safe keeping all His own. Every heart is in His hand. 
He knows His Antipases and His witnesses. From the 
first ages until the present hour there have been those 
who have stood firm against error and evil. 

"Most eventful scenes are rapidly approaching. There 
is an earnestness and intensity of purpose on both sides 
that must lead to the most serious consequences. If the 
spirits of evil are making their final struggle, the spirits 
of good men are equally determined to resist manfully in 
the defence of the faith entrusted to the saints by their 
absent Lord. We well know the strength of the foun- 
dation upon which that faith is built ; we know that it is 
impregnable ; but we also know that the true Church has 
been honoured by its custody, and that the Master's sore 
displeasure awaits those who have failed in or flinched 
from this heavenly warfare." 



176 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

The Pope, in his late wondrous and mediaeval en- 
cyclical, gives a long list of errors — philosophy, ra- 
tionalism, pantheism, &c. He enumerates evil after 
evil, but, unhappily for the poor old man, in his list of 
heresies the Bible Society is named ! What a warning 
in proof of how low the mind becomes, first distorted, 
then enslaved to its creed. However, we need not 
exhaust all our lamentation on the poor old Pope. 
There are signs and tokens nearer home (not altogether 
irrelevant to parts of the encyclical letter), calling upon 
Christians to be as wise as serpents, and to place them- 
selves as sentries to guard the "precious treasure, book 
divine" from the ruthless hands of infidel heads and 
unhumbled hearts. 

The Pope is honest, we can all understand him ; but 
the half-hatched little Popes at home are very trouble- 
some. Nevertheless, some of us do understand the 
ominous sounds, and can unravel the network contained 
in the charges, sermons, books, &c, emanating from 
bishops and those under their authority, from whose 
writings specimens are given here. "Would that such 
specimens were confined to the names attached to these 
dark sayings. A vast number of others might be added 
who subscribe to everything contained in these quota- 
tions. 

Some people "are puzzled," others are " afraid to 
express their opinions," while Komanizing teachers and 
tendencies are broadcast over the land. " Dr. Manning 
has received in all 3,000 abjurations, and Father Faber 
BayB, in his Church they are of daily occurrence." But 
this by no means relieves the Church of England from 
Romanizing teachers, as the following will prove. The 
author was recently in conversation with a " very high 



SPIRITUALISM AXD OTHER SIGjS\S. 177 

cliiirch" clergyman, who stated that one of his many 
Roman Catholic friends had just asked hi in why he did 
not join the Church of Eome. To which he replied, " I 
have no intention of doing so, because I have no neces- 
sity ; I find enough in the Church of England to satisfy 
me." It may be well to mention some of the milder 
forms of high-churchism, previous to its full develop- 
ment into rank popery or infidelity. Multitudes are now 
confiding in forms and ceremonies, and every seventh 
day, assisted with a cross on the Prayer Book, a small 
atonement is made for the weekly commissions and 
omissions. "While untruthful clergymen, some amongst 
them not concealing their freethinking and popish- 
thinking priestly characters, are all received, listened 
to, and discussed, as affording one of the many novel and 
exciting subjects of the day, with no more concern about 
their mutual precious souls, or the infidel blasphemy 
contained in what they speak or listen to than were 
they considering the merits or demerits of professors of 
music or painting ! The sermons, prayers, and singing 
are accepted or rejected, not according to the matter 
contained, but according to the style of the performances. 
Partaking of other men's sins is no small transgression, 
but to listen to what poisons the soul, is tempting Grocl to 
leave the subjects of such wilful conduct to the results of 
their wickedness. One instance here will suffice : — 

"On Sunday week Dr. Temple preached, by appoint- 
ment of the Bishop of London, at Whitehall. In the 
course of a sermon on ' The Inspiration of the Bible, ' he is 
reported by the Daily News to have declared that the state- 
ments of Genesis and the discoveries of science 'were 
totally irreconcilable.' They must come to the conclusion 
that the narrative in the first of Genesis was not a history 
at all, but poetry ; and more to the same effect." 

N 



178 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

The professors of religion forget that God can as easily 
deal out curses as blessings, if He please, " For such 
are false apostles, deceitful workers, transforming them- 
selves into the apostles of Christ. And no marvel ; for 
Satan himself is transformed into an angel of light. 
Therefore it is no great thing if his ministers also he 
transformed as the ministers of righteousness ; whose end 
shall he according to their works " (2 Cor. xi. 13 — 15). 

These enemies of God's truth are regarded by some 
people as heroes; hence, when any such hero is ex- 
pected to preach, he is sure to have a crowded con- 
gregation to increase his woeful responsibility, and to 
prove the lamentable condition of his hearers. Many 
of the young and inexperienced are becoming seared 
against the truth as they listen to the preaching of such 
men, added to which, their ears are polluted by hearing 
the "Word of God questioned, by the loose and infidel 
principles spoken out in drawing-rooms, alike in the 
gin-palace and beer-house. A father was heard to say 
lately, when spoken to about his soul's salvation, 
" Well, if bishops and their clergy are not agreed about 
the Bible, and what is truth, surely I may be excused 
if I know but little about it." These ruinous results 
thus tell upon some, while the weighty responsibility of 
others will appear from the following quotations : — 

" Some bishops of the Established Church, for instance, 
Goodman and Cheyney of Gloucester, and Gordon of Glas- 
g< >\v ; i nobably also King of London, Hallifax of St. Asaph ; 
died Roman Catholics." — Milner Refuted. 

How carefully should we guard against the least 
taint of contempt or bitterness in writing or speaking 
about those who are deluded in error, and thus separated 
from us who stand on the ground of God's truth. For 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 179 

although our spirits are grieved by them aud for them, 
aud we are unable to give them divine light and 
deliverance, we know not the happy moment when it 
may please Grod to reveal Christ in them the hope of 
glory, and thus to unite by one Spirit in Jesus what is 
now so antagonistic to the unity of the Spirit and the 
bond of peace. The Christian's love is greatly tested 
when inquiring souls for the way of life are hindered 
by wicked men, and as they say, "What are we to 
do ?" while every antagonism to the truth is presented 
to them by those who profess to teach and guide. Let 
the troubled and perplexed learn to " cease from man," 
" Looking off unto Jesus," who says, " Him that 
cometh unto me I will in nowise cast out ; " " Every one 
that asketh receiveth." These "dark dealings" with 
them unfold in the light, thus proving the truth of Grod's 
Word in its prophecies and suitable promises. You will 
with such teaching call upon your soul to praise the 
Lord for His love and faithfulness, practically knowing 
the blessedness of suffering in fellowship with the 
Master, willing to be contradicted and persecuted, if 
only His grace and glory may be magnified in and by 
you. 

" Where reason fails, •with, all her powers, 
There faith prevails, and love adores." 

" The Lord reigneth." He who made the world, 
can He not make a way for you ? Can He not teach, 
keep, and bless all those who through sovereign grace 
have been brought to repent and believe the Grospel — 
causing darkness to be light, and crooked things straight, 
such crooked things indeed that none but the Lord 
Jesus could steer your way through the billows and 
storms of these tempestuous days ? 

N 2 



180 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

"'The night is far spent.' Protestants, awake! Yes; 
the night of Gentile wickedness is blackening around our 
horizon. Jehovah's forbearance, the Church's testimony and 
sufferings, Satan's power, creation's thraldom, the world's 
misgovernment, Israel's blindness — all are hastening to 
their crisis ; the day of the Lord, in which even the righteous 
shall scarcely be saved, is at hand. Oh, then, what search- 
ings of heart should affect us all : ' Who may abide the 
day of His coming? Who shall stand when He ap- 
peareth?' (Mai. iii.) 

"But more particularly, ye Christian people, who are 
patriots, and who can weep, like Jesus, for the woes that 
are coming upon your land, England's sun is fast going 
down. The time was, when, in her laws and institutions, 
however degenerate her children, she honoured God. When 
the pround foot of the invader, Napoleon, trod every other 
soil, and the oldest dynasties of Europe shook at his ap- 
proach ; when, in neighbouring states, their fruitful fields 
were turned into military encampments, their public build- 
ings into barracks, and the tenderest youths were torn 
from their parents' arms to feed as conscripts the lusts of 
voracious war ; and though, as the crowning point of his 
ambition, the imperious despot burned with desire to sub- 
ject this country to his sway — by the finger of God, as it 
were, was he warned off our coast ; yea, England was used 
to chastise and bring the usurper low, and was exhibited 
in the honourable position of benefactress of the civilized 
world. But alas ! how has the gold become dim ! how are 
we fallen from our high distinction ! It is competent now 
for infidels and idolaters to direct the counsels of the throne, 
to legislate as senators, to preside as judges, to clothe them 
with civic honours ! Nor, ere the citadel of the constitution 
was thus opened to these enemies, was the question even 
entertained, ' Is this compatible with the honour and glory 
of God ?' It sufficed to inquire, * Was it conducive to carnal 
peace ?' That the measure was antichristian, was not cared 
for ; but simply (and that with fallacious reasoning), that 
it was not antisocial. And still this course of godless 
liberalism is being gloried in and prosecuted, though 
'out of the serpent's root has come forth the cockatrice,' 
every sacrifice of principle having but produced scorn for 
our inconsistency, and yielded a more commanding ground 
fox attack upon the little which has been recovered. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 181 

" "Witness, once more, the acclamation with which is 
hailed in the British Parliament, the aspiration after har- 
mony between the ranks of Christ and those of antichrist ; 
and the shont of derision, on the other head, called forth 
by a faithful testimony to their distinguishing colours. 
Awake, then, ye Protestants of the land, ye servants of the 
most high God, who have not bowed the knee to Baal. 
"Who knoweth but that for such a time as this, ye have 
influence still left you in the kingdom, if not to avert the 
crisis, yet to postpone it, and put a drag upon the down- 
ward career of your infatuated country. But, be not 
deceived as to the efforts which become you ; it is the nation 
has sinned, and it is the nation must repent. No prevalence 
of piety among individuals will avail as a substitute for 
this. True, had there been even ten righteous persons in 
Sodom and Gomorrah, those cities had been spared; but 
in our case, the analogy holds not with such heathen multi- 
tudes, but with Israel — the organized depository of religion 
— its responsible witness in the earth — in regard to whose 
land we read, ' Though those three men, Noah, Daniel, 
and Job were in it, they should deliver but their own 
souls by their righteousness, saith the Lord God.' But 
now, how is this national repentance to be brought about? 
at least, how is it to be attempted ? Ye Protestant senators, 
ye in whose hearts is the love of God — where are you? 
The soldiers of an earthly sovereign will band themselves 
in the forlorn hope, and at the call of duty, will rush into 
the cannon's mouth ; and they do it for a corruptible crown : 
cannot you, then, show similar loyalty to the King of 
kings, who holds out to His faithful followers ' a crown of 
glory that fadeth not away ? ' Can you not bear the re- 
proach of confessing Christ, and testifying that ' righteous- 
ness exalteth a nation, and that sin is a shame to any 
people ? ' Can you not brave the ignorant scorn of foolish 
men, and affirm that God hath spoken ; that what is truth is 
not matter of mere inquiry with you, but that you have found 
it ; that it has come to you endorsed with the testimony of 
your martyred forefathers, and that popery is a lie ; that 
therefore, in love to your neighbour, you must discourage it ? 
If your respective constituencies support you in this — and 
thank God, though the pulse beat low, the Protestant heart 
of England still beats — then you can keep your ground, 
and who knows what may be the issue ? At all events, 



182 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

whatever be the result, ye faithful senators, ye shall not 
witness in vain. Be it so, even that, according to the 
divine decree, the canker of apostasy is not to be eradicated 
but still to consume the vitals of your country ; you will be 
"a sweet savour unto God,' whatever you prove to men. 
Nor, in this case, let reproach affect you for plying an 
impracticable labour. He whose followers you are might 
have been taxed with this. All day long did He stretch forth 
His hands to a gainsaying and rebellious people. He 
sowed, but did not reap. You may be content to do the 
same. 

" Of ultimate success to the cause of truth you may be fully 
confident, hut present success is limited in 'this evil age.' 
It is not therefore your standard of duty, but simply the 
commission, ' occupy till I come.'' Without carnal reason- 
ing, then, let each of you prosecute your high vocation 
as senators. 'In the morning sow thy seed, and in the 
evening withhold not thy hand' (Eccles. ii.). Be not dis- 
couraged by seeming failure; be not elated by seeming 
success. Neither 'observe the wind,' nor 'regard the 
clouds.' Duty is yours; the event is God's. Let your 
legislative maxim be, ' Cease to do evil, learn to do well.'* 
And be resolute in your career of duty. Even a heathen 
could say: 'Fiat justitia mat ccelum.' Oh! what then 
ought to be your language, with the divine challenge more- 
over sounding in your ears, ' Who is he that will harm you, 
if ye be followers of that which is good?' (1 Pet. iii.) — 
Rev. James Kelly, M.A. 

" It is most evident to me from the Holy Scriptures, that 
at the close of the present Gospel dispensation, there will 
be a second, visible, personal appearing of our Lord Jesus 
Christ; as certainly, and as literally as He did, above 1800 
years ago, appear and tabernacle in our fiesh. That, 
previous to His appearing, there will be very awful judg- 
ments, more particularly confined to the nations of Christen- 
dom ; and it is moreover evident to me, that the eventful 
times in which our lot has been cast, sufficiently indicate 
the near approach of those judgments : and, consequently, 
if such be indeed the case, it is highly important and neces- 
sary, that all the members of the Church of Christ, who 
profess to love Him in sincerity, should be prepared to 
meet whatever trials or tribulations it may please God to 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 183 

subject them to; should walk circumspectly, and con- 
sistently with the truth of the Gospel ; and should ' lift up 
their heads with joy, for that their redemption draweth nigh ' 
(Luke xxL 28), With regard to the first point; namely, 
that our Lord Jesus Christ will assuredly appear again, 
visibly, and personally appear; and that too, at the con- 
elusion of this very dispensation under which we live ; I 
find it so abundantly revealed in the Holy Scriptures, that 
I cannot in the least degree doubt it. And moreover, that 
He will appear, not for the purpose of passing the final 
sentence upon all who shall have died from the beginning — 
that will not be the commencing act of His advent, but a 
subsequent one ' (Rev. xx. 2) — but that He will appear to 
take to Himself His ' great power, and to reign' (Rev. 
xi. 17); to inherit 'the kingdom, and the dominion, and 
the greatness of the kingdom under the whole heaven ' 
(Dan. vii.); and to 'rule over all' in unutterable glory for 
ever, as God's vicegerent, ' the brightness, or bright efful- 
gence, of His glory, and the express image of His person,' 
I have no more doubt .than I have that He literally ap- 
peared as a ' Child born, and a Son given ; ' that He 
entered Jerusalem, i lowly, and riding upon an ass, and 
upon a colt the foal of an ass ' (Zech. ix. 9) ; and that He 
now sitteth upon the Father's throne, expecting until all 
His enemies be made His footstool. 

"That the present dispensation shall, like all the pre- 
ceding, terminate in apostasy, the Scriptures manifestly 
declare ; and by none is it affirmed in stronger language 
than by our Lord himself. When speaking of His second 
coming (Matt, xxiv.), He says (37 — 41) : ' But as the days 
of Noe were, so shall also the coming of the Son of Man be.' 
St. Peter, also, in the third chapter of his second epistle, 
declares : ' There shall come, in the last days, scoffers walk- 
ing after their own lusts!' For, it does appear that in 
these latter times, the nearer the awful day of the Lord 
approaches, when all these things shall be dissolved, the 
more madly does the world rage against its Creator and 
Redeemer ; the more desperately does it rush on its own 
ruin, and scoff at the Divine judgments with increased 
audacity and contempt ! The wide spread of infidelity 
throughout all the nations of Christendom; the Papal 
power itself having in a great measure become infidel ; the 
increase of Socinianism, better known now by TJnitarianism, 



184 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

which, truly speaking, is nought else than sheer infidelity 
— these, with many other awful signs, betoken apostasy, 
rather than any great increase of true religion, and indicate 
that the time is near when Bev. xvii. 13, 14, shall be ful- 
filled."—^. R. Maunsell. 

" We cannot form an adequate conception of the extent 
and variety of the means employed, in these latter days, 
for the overthrow of the Gospel, unless we take into the 
account the more insidious devices of the enemy, in raising 
up, from among the very household of faith, foes to its doc- 
trines and principles, who, under the semblance of giving 
it their support, were employed in secretly undermining its 
foundations. In Germany and Holland, and in other parts 
of Europe, there has long existed a tribe of theologians, 
who, professing a desire to make Christianity more accept- 
able to men of a philosophical and sceptical turn of mind, 
have manifested a disposition to abandon almost all its dis- 
tinguishing and essential doctrines ; to explain away some 
of its most important facts, as merely allegorical represen- 
tations ; and to renounce its claims to divine authority, by 
throwing doubt upon its miraculous testimonies, and 
treating its sacred records as works of merely human 
composition. The mischiefs that have arisen from the 
labours of these denier & of inspiration and heterodox inter- 
preters of Scripture, are manifested, not only by a very 
general abatement of that reverence with which the Gospel 
was wont to be regarded by its professors, but also by a 
perceptible increase in the number of its avowed con- 
temners. 

"I assert then, without any fear of contradiction, that 
this apostasy has long since begun to take place, and is 
fast ripening to a head ! That St. Paul's prediction, con- 
tained in 1 Tim. iv. 1 — 3, hath been, and now is fulfilling; 
and that contained in 2 Tim. iii. 1—5, iv. 3, 4, and 2 Pet. 
iii. 3, also is fulfilling ; that infidelity, in various shapes, and 
under different forins, prevails throughout Christendom. 
God is east off ; and as it was in the days of the judges of 
Israel, so in a great degree is it now, * Every man did 
thai which was right in his own eyes' (Judges xxi. 25). 
Moreover, I assert, that the event which has just been 
brought to issue — ' an untoward event,' very similar to the 
battle of Navarino, swift and sudden! an event by which 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 185 

God has been, in a manner^ discarded from the nation, in- 
asmuch as that noble protest against the idolatrous Church 
of Rome, "which, of all the nations of Christendom, England 
alone so strenuously made, hath ceased to be. 

"I assert that this event — the taking of Popery into co- 
partnership with the Protestant constitution of Great 
Britain and Ireland — is no insignificant token that this 
dispensation is grown old, and having become apostate, is 
soon to die an unnatural death ; for who can dare say that 
Popery is a harmless thing ? Who, with the Bible in his 
hand, can dare pronounce idolatry a harmless thing ? 
Who can venture to say that darkness and light can com- 
mingle ? Christ and Belial have concord ? God and 
Mammon unite ? Yet this is neither more nor less than 
the very principle upon which this strange act has been so 
hastily accomplished ; and having been accomplished, there 
remains now nothing more to be done, than for God to 
signify His righteous displeasure, and to manifest by His 
sore judgments, that the day is near at hand, when the 
chief Shepherd and Bishop of souls shall appear to take 
account of His servants; to separate the chaff from the 
wheat — the goats from the sheep, and to appoint unto each 
their everlasting portion ; ' to take vengeance upon them 
that know not God, and that obey not the Gospel ; and to 
be glorified in His saints, and admired in all them that 
believe in that day.' 'And who may abide the day of His 
coming ? Who shall stand when He appeareth?' 

" But seeing also that ere this period shall have come a 
dark, a very dark cloud must pass over our heads, it may 
be : seeing that we are touching upon times of peculiar 
difficulty and dismay ; times, which will prove the faith of 
many, and make manifest what sort the hope and expecta- 
tion of professed Christians may be ; * because iniquity 
shall abound, the love of many shall wax cold ' ! ! Seeing 
that these things are so, doth it not behove us, ministers 
and people, to have regard each to our calling, and to see 
how we stand, both toward God and toward each other ? 
to bring our faith and hope, our joy and confidence to the 
touchstone of God's most holy Word ? and, resting alto- 
gether on Him who hath fully accomplished the Father's 
will, and hath ' perfected for ever them that are sanctified,' 
to wait with patience, and yet with intense anxiety (0 Lord, 
how long? Eev. vi. 10) for His revelation from heaven 



186 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

as the King of Saints, and the Lord of Glory ; when we 
shall have our full recompense and reward?" — Br. Van 
Mildert. 

Let each Christian ask himself and herself, Am I an 
exponent of God's Word — so living that others must 
take knowledge of me that I am much with Jesus? 
Am I " looking for and hasting unto the coming of the 
day of God?" Thus confident in "the hope," and 
therefore fearless of man, am I doing my utmost to 
oppose evil, and to promote good ? 

" It is astonishing how much sensation is caused in the 
Christian Church hy the outbreak, every now and then, of 
fresh phases of infidelity. I do not think that these alarms 
are at all warranted. 

"It is what we must expect to the very end of the 
dispensation. If all carnal minds believed the Bible, 
I think the spiritual might almost begin to doubt it ; but 
as there are always some who will attack it, I shall feel 
none the less confidence in it. Really the Book of God 
has stood so many attacks from such different quarters, 
that to be at all alarmed about it shows a very childish 
fear. When a work has been standing all our lifetime, 
and has been known to stand firmly throughout all the 
ages of history, none but foolish people will think that the 
next wave will sweep it away. Within our own short life 
— say some five-and- twenty years' recollection — have we 
not remembered, I was about to say almost as many as 
five-and- twenty shapes of infidelity? You know it must 
change about every twenty years at least, for no system of 
infidelity can live longer than that. There was the witty 
system of objection which Voltaire introduced ; and how 
short-lived was that ! Then came the bullying, low-lived, 
blackguard system of Tom Paine; and how short-lived 
was its race ! Then, in more modern times, unbelief took 
the shape of secularism : what particular shapes it takes 
now we scarcely know — perhaps Colensoism is the most 
fashionable ; but that is dying out, and something else will 
follow it. These creations of an hour just live their little 
day, and they are gone. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 187 

" But look at belief in Scripture and at Scripture itself. 
The Bible is better understood, more prized, and, I be- 
lieve, on the whole, more practised than ever it was, since 
the day when its Author sent it abroad into the world. 
Its course is still onward ; and after all which has been done 
against it, no visible effect has been produced upon the 
granite-wall of Scriptural truth by all the pickaxes and 
boring-rods which have been broken upon it. Walking 
through our museums now-a-days, we smile at those who 
think that Scripture is not true. Every block of stone 
from Nineveh, every relic which has been brought from the 
Holy Land, speaks with a tongue, which must be heard 
even by the deaf adder of secularism, and which says, 
1 Yes the Bible is true, and the Word of God is no fiction.' 
The Bible has a fulness more than that which the letter 
can convey, having in it a profundity of meaning such as 
words never had when used by any other being, God 
having the power to speak a multitude of truths at once. 
And when He means to teach us one thing according to 
our capability of receiving it, He often teaches us twenty 
other things ; which for the time we do not comprehend, 
but which by and by, as our senses are exercised, reveal 
themselves by the Holy Spirit. Every time I open my 
Bible, I will read it as the Word of ' God that cannot lie ; ' 
and when I get a promise or a threatening, I will either 
rejoice or tremble, because I know that these things stand." 
—Rev. C.H. 



Just as wicked men tried to accuse the man Christ 
Jesus, but failed, because their witness agreed not 
together, so wicked men now try to accuse His Word, 
and to bring it under condemnation. But their witness 
still " agreeth not together." It can never agree. 
The minds of sinful men are influenced and guided by 
too many contradictory imaginations and motives, to 
admit of agreement. Neither would such agreement 
suit the devil's purpose. Disagreement excites curiosity. 
The attractions also of wondrous assertions, and the 
novel argumentative books on such vital subjects, 



188 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

greatly aid the circulation of whatever opens a way to 
question the truth of the Bible. For alas ! such daring 
liberty is found to sympathize with the " desperately 
wicked " heart of man, which is ever ready to stifle 
convictions, and to throw off responsibility, and so 
change " the truth of God into a lie," and so worship 
and serve " the creature more than the Creator, who is 
blessed for ever" (Eom. i.). "Haters of God," and 
" ye have not His word abiding in you," is as truthful 
and universal in its application as the breath we draw. 
Hence it is the wisdom of the devil to get a ready 
sale for his poison — 

" Authorized People's Edition. 

COLENSO ON THE PENTATEUCH. 

One Shilling." 

And this flimsy web of infidel sophistry is the substi- 
tute for the Gospel, which the people of an enlightened 
age will ultimately accept ! ! Whilst the apostle to the 
Gentiles was satisfied by saying for himself, " Necessity 
is laid upon me ; yea, woe is unto me, if I preach not 
the Gospel " (1 Cor. ix.) ; and to his companion in 
labour, " Make full proof of thy ministry " (2 Tim. iv.) ; 
and to the people, "If any man preach any other 
Gospel unto you than that ye have received, let him be 
accursed" (Gal. i.). Exodus xiv. 19, 20; Deut. iv. 2; 
Eev. xxii. 18, 19. 

If the Lord Jesus were now on earth, would His 
character, "holy, harmless, undefilecl, separate from 
sinners, and made higher than the heavens," be re- 
ceived, loved, and followed by the infidel "disputers" 
around us, or would tbfiy deny and persecute unto the 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 189 

death ? But we will remember there are two sides to 
every question, and out of evil comes good. "While the 
devil is leading so many into his tree-thinking school 
to question and then to reject the inspiration of God, 
some, perhaps many, are brought out of the mazes of 
" man's wisdom," to realize the grace which has placed 
them with " the foolish " and " the weak." They now 
see that " the wise and the mighty " are not only con- 
founded by " the weak things," but " the wisdom of this 
world is foolishness with Gfod. For it is written, He 
taketh the wise in their own craftiness." 

We may well repeat, " WThat is man ? " " For vain 
man would be wise, though man be born like a wild ass's 
colt." (Job. xi. 12). " For the preaching of the cross 
is to them that perish foolishness ; but unto us which are 
saved, it is the power of Gfod. For it is written, I will de- 
stroy the wisdom of the wise, and will bring to nothing 
the understanding of the prudent." (1 Cor. i. 18, 19). 

Except we be taught by the Holy Spirit to realize 
that " the wisdom of this world is foolishness with Gfod" 
we cannot realize the great truth, " of Him are ye in 
Christ Jesus, who of Gfod is made unto us, wisdom, 
righteousness, sanctification, and redemption." " ! ye 
fools, when will ye be wise ? " " Yet there is room." 
" Come unto me." Let no one suppose that the Lord 
Jesus loses whilst the devil is taking captive his own. 
" All that the Father giveth me shall come to me ; and 

him that cometh to me I will in no wise cast out 

And this is the Father's will which hath sent me, that 
of all which He hath given me I should lose nothing, 
but should raise it up again at the last day " (John vi. 
37, 39). Christians indeed need this most comforting 
statement to arm them against " the wiles of the devil," 



190 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

whose hatred to God and His truth is such that we need 
not marvel if from time to time sinners are employed to 
do his work in contradicting revelation and distracting 
people's minds — which help to show, in his hatred to 
Grod's revelation, the truth of those very parts of the 
Bible which have foretold what is now undoubtedly 
being fulfilled. 

Scoffers, disputers, and those who are wise above 
what is written, are only testifying to the truth of Cod's 
prophetic word in their generation, as others have done 
before them in former generations. And what have 
they accomplished ? Have the whole army of infidels, 
scoffers, free-thinkers, and disputants mutilated or 
destroyed one particle of the sacred page ? Have they 
overcome the faith and love of any one taught and 
sanctified by its blessed truths ? Have they blighted or 
hindered the progress of its sacred mission ? The Church 
triumphant, the Church militant, and the whole army 
of martyrs would re-echo iVb, they have but lengthened 
the cords, and strengthened the stakes, and will, even to 
the end, cause the conqueror's song to rise louder in 
praise and adoration to Him against whom " the gates 
of hell shall not prevail." 

" We find our reason by no means outraged by the 
truths of the Bible, which is the religion of Protestants ; 
nor are we, like Bishop Colenso, disposed to expunge from 
its sacred pages what is beyond the scope of human reason, 
or any words the meaning of which Grocl has left unrevealed. 
The error as to the prophecies and miracles being the fables 
of poets, and the Testaments fabulous fictions, is greatly to 
be deplored, and exists in the minds of learned as well as 
unlearned men in all countries of Europe more or less; but 
Protestantism alone may take the credit of having com- 
bated 1h.se errors with 'the weapons of truth, and the 
BWord of the Spirit, which is the Word of God.' It has 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 191 

not attempted to crush investigation by anathemas, nor meet 
the assertions and objections of rationalism by appealing 
to tradition and absurd superstition. The works of the 
rationalists of Europe have aroused the minds of earnest 
Christian men, and the result has been that at no time has 
the fact been more apparent, ' Magna est Veritas, et pre- 
valent.' 

"The 'Life of Jesus,' by Strauss, in Germany; the 
1 Essays and Reviews,' in England ; the ' Life of Jesus,' by 
Eenan, in France; and Bishop Colenso's heresy, have 
called forth an amount of learning and research among 
the most eminent Christians of all nations in Europe that 
may well satisfy the most timid that the truth is in no 
danger. It would, however, be instructive to inquire how 
many of these champions for the truth are found within 
the pale of the Church which thus arrogates to itself the 
position of the Church, and consigns all who utter not its Shib- 
boleth to unmitigated perdition." — Joseph Fernandez,, B.A. 

But not without solemn and sorrowful feelings is it 
believed that w T ere it not for such men as Colenso, 

Stanley, Temple, Jewell appearing before us, 

the Bible student would be looking out for these very 
characters to arise in accordance with prophetic teaching. 
There is no doubt as to the fact that all the actions of 
His creatures will ultimately establish the truth of 
(rod's Word. The believer glorifies Grod below, and 
shall throughout eternity glorify Him above. The 
unbeliever shall also eventually glorify Grod's infinite 
holiness and power in his very destruction and over- 
throw. The unhappy sinner will not come to Christ 
that he may be saved, yet he reads, " Him that cometh 
unto me I will in no wise cast out." The believer has 
come, and, through grace, happily knows that "all 
things work together for good to them that love 
God." 

How deep and grievous are some of the " all things " 



192 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

permitted of God for the good of His people ! but where 
is the Christian who would not heartily acknowledge 
that it has been through trial and disappointment that 
he has learnt more of the love, faithfulness, and sym- 
pathy, of a heavenly Father than ever he experienced 
in smooth paths ? On the Christian's part it is his con- 
stant weakness and sinful propensities which render 
such trials necessary, and he knows it, and is grateful 
for such pains taken on Grod's part. The Christian's 
chief sorrow is not his own sufferings, but the cause of his 
sufferings is almost always the weightier matter of the 
two. For instance, the enemies of Grod's truth, whether 
as bellowing bulls proclaiming, or as sneaking serpents 
whispering their wickedness in the ears of their fellow- 
men, are a prolific source of Christian suffering. Ere 
long we shall each know heaven or hell as our eternal 
home. 

Is not this fact, that many will find the latter to be 
their portion, enough to sorrow the Christian's heart, 
and to cause weeping " between the porch and the 
altar ?" for, whilst the blasphemy and sin of these 
days are proving the strength of their Hope as an 
anchor, and the firmness of " the Bock " in the midst 
of the storms of that troublous sea, whose dark waters 
engulf many, whose false anchor slips in the time of 
distress, how many Christians, pressed and sorrowful, 
could cry out, " Oh that I had wings like a dove ! then 
would I flee away, and be at rest." But they must 
stand their ground, and enduring hardness like good 
soldiers of Jesus Christ, strive together for the faith 
once delivered to the saints, however the battlefield 
may appal, or the billows affright. " The Lord is 
faithful," and His people shall prove Psalm cxix. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 193 

89, 90, " For ever, Lord, Thy word is settled in 
heaven. Thy faithfulness is unto all generations." 

He will give them the fulness of Israel's blessing in 
Christ; and when the enemy " darkeneth counsel," 
and tries to put to nought the word of the living 
Grod — pursuing the spiritual Israel unto the death 
— what do we read ? " And I, behold, I will harden 
the hearts of the Egyptians, and they shall follow 
them : and I will get me honour upon Pharaoh, and 
upon all his host, upon his chariots, and upon his 
horsemen. And the Egyptians shall know that I am 
the Lord, when I have gotten me honour upon Pharaoh, 
upon his chariots, and upon his horsemen. And the 
angel of Grod, which went before the camp of Israel, 
removed and went behind them; and the pillar of 
the cloud went from before their face, and stood 
behind them : and it came between the camp of the 
Egyptians and the camp of Israel ; and it was a cloud 
and darkness to them, but it gave light by night to 
these : so that the one came not near the other all the 
night" (Exodus xiv. 17—20). 

It is profitable to notice the extreme of opposites 
produced from the one source of all good — " Grod is a 
consuming fire ;" " God is Love." His word is " a 
savour of life unto life, and of death unto death." 
Christ is " the hope " of His Church, and " He will 
destroy His enemies with the brightness of His coming." 
One simple gift from Grod — even faith to believe in 
Jesus — takes the soul over the otherwise impassable 
gulf which is presented between the two phases of His 
character, and enables the sinner to say, " My Grod and 
my Eather ! " " He brought me up out of the horrible 
pit, and out of the miry clay, and set my feet upon a 



194 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGXS. 

rock, and established my goings" (Psalms xl. 2). 
What is the opposite standing ? "In whom the god 
of this world hath blinded the minds of them which 
believe not, lest the light of the glorious Gospel of 
Christ, who is the image of God, should shine unto 
them " (2 Cor. iv. 4) . "In naming fire taking ven- 
geance on them that know not Grod, and that obey not 
the Grospel of our Lord Jesus Christ: who shall be 
punished with everlasting destruction from the presence 
of the Lord, and from the glory of His power " 
(2 Thess. i. 8, 9). 

But to return to God's chosen people. Do we not 
see in " the Angel of Grod," the Christ of God, and in 
" the pillar of the cloud," a Father's protecting care ? 
While " the light by night " seems to testify of " Thy 
Word is a lamp unto my feet, and a light unto my 
path." Not so with those who are on the wrong side 
of " the pillar," surrounded by the darkness of sin or 
infidelity. But " what will they do in the end 
thereof?" " Pharaoh's chariots and his hosts hath He 
cast into the sea : his chosen captains also are drowned 
in the Eed Sea. The depths have covered them : they 

sank into the bottom as a stone And in the 

greatness of Thine excellency Thou hast overthrown 
them that rose up against Thee : Thou sentest forth 

Thy wrath, which consumed them as stubble 

Who is like unto Thee, Lord, among the gods? 
A\ ho is like Thee, glorious in holiness, fearful in praises, 
doing wonders?" (Exodus xv. 4, 5, 7, 11). 

* ' The past is gone, the future is uncertain, the present 
alone is ours, and we must ' redeem the time, because the 
days are evil.' There is trouble hard at hand; the time 
that is gone, this moment that is going, we cannot reclaim, 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 195 

any more tlian gather up the water that is spilled on the 
ground; but we can "redeem " it — that is, make the best 
use of that which is still ours. And ' the time is short, 7 
so short, indeed, that * they that have wives ' should be as 
serious, zealous, active, dead to the world, devoted to the 
Lord in all holiness and sobriety, ' as if they had none f 
* and they that weep,' these poor, degraded suffering 
brethren of ours, ' as if they wept not : and they that 
rejoice ' in the possession of earthly good, ' as if they 
rejoiced not : and they that buy,' do business in the shops 
and ships, 'as if they possessed not,' knowing themselves 
to be only stewards and not proprietors : ' and they that 
use this world,' have everything prosperous in it, ' as not 
abusing it,' not seeking happiness in it. And why? 
i because the fashion of this world passeth away:' all this 
buying and selling and getting gain, this marrying and 
being given in marriage, this weeping, suffering, sorrow- 
ing, and rejoicing, not only will pass away, but now 
passeth away, is at this moment fleeing off like a shadow." 

And this " little while " will soon and for ever be 
exchanged for the palm of victory, and the eternal 
rest with Jesus in our Father's house. 

" Soon and for ever the breaking of day 
Shall chase all the night- clouds of sorrow away ; 
Soon and for ever we'll see as we're seen, 
And know the deep meaning of things that have been. 
"Where fightings without, and conflicts within 
Shall weary no more in the warfare with sin ; 
"Where tears and where fears and where death shall be never, 
Christians with Christ shall be soon and for ever." 

Let us, then, who are engaged in the Lord's battle, 
and feel the increasing pressure from without, give our- 
selves afresh unto Him and His cause, so shall we " not 
be ashamed before Him at His coming." 

We now return to WHAT BOME IS DOING- IN 
THE CHUECH OF ENGLAND, recommending all 
who really desire to be informed to read " The Church 

o 2 



196 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

Times" from which paper the following quotations are 
copied word for word. 

"CHRIST church:, clapham. 

" Lady-day was observed at this church with great 
solemnity. The violet hangings of the sanctuary were 
undisturbed, but in front of them were ranged hundreds 
of candles, and on the super-altar stood six enamelled 
brazen vases filled with the choicest camellias, the two 
next the cross being all white flowers. Tall lilies and 
azaleas were placed on the floor right and left of the altar, 
which was vested in the very beautiful white silk frontal. 
Evensong commenced on the eve at eight o'clock, when 
the procession entered singing a joyous hymn. The cross 
was borne on high, and before the priests came two 
acolytes in scarlet cassocks with lawn cottas, one swinging 
a silver censer, the other bearing the incense-boat. The 
altar was first incensed, and evensong proceeded. Before 
and after the ' Magnificat,' the proper antiphon was sung 
by the full choir, and as the jubilant strain arose the 
candles were lighted, the effect being indescribably mag- 
nificent. While the choir chanted the song of Our Lady, 
the altar was incensed, and the choir and people by an 
attending acolyte. At the close of evensong, the Rev. 0. 
Soames preached an excellent sermon on the Incarnation ; 
and the altar having been again incensed, and the bene- 
diction given by the Eev. B. Abbot, the choir reformed 
the procession, going round the church to the vestry, 
singing, 'Praise the Lord, ye heavens adore Him.' At 
the early celebration on Lady-day, the Eev. B. Abbot was 
celebrant ; and at the high celebration, which took place 
nl'toT eleven o'clock matins, the Eev. C. Soames officiated, 
wearing the splendid white silk chasuble ; the Eev. B. 
Abbot, as deacon, being vested in the white dalmatic. The 
altar being incensed, the divine office proceeded chorally to 
the Gospel, when, as well as at the offertory and the canon, 
incense was again offered. There was no sermon, and a 
goodly number communicated, many candles being lighted 
al and before the celebration. Evensong was plain, as it 
was considered thai the eve of the Sunday in Lent super- 
seded the second vespers of the festival, which nowhere 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 197 

was observed in a more Catholic manner than in this now 
flourishing little church." 



" COXTIR3IATION AT OXFORD. 

"On Thursday, March 2nd, 1865, the Lord Bishop of the 
diocese held a confirmation in the Church of St. Thomas 
the Martyr, Oxford, when a very large number of persons 
of both sexes received the apostolic rite. The altar was 
vested in a white frontal and scarlet super-frontal, and, 
besides the accustomed cross and candles, was adorned with 
two vases of very choice violet and white hyacinths. 
Without the sacrarium, on the south side, a throne was 
erected for the Bishop, suitably ornamented with the arms 
of his lordship and of the diocese. The choir consisted 
chiefly of members of the country branch of the English 
Church Union. The organ was played by the Rev. H. P. 
Goodridge, one of the curates of the parish. At one 
o'clock the clergy and choir proceeded to the gates of the 
churchyard, where they met the Bishop, preceded by his 
verger, and attended by his chaplain. The procession then 
returned to the church through the south porch, chanting 
the psalm Exurgat Dens, from the 'Psalter Noted.' The 
opening address of the office was said by Archdeacon 
Clerke, and at its conclusion the hymn on 'The Holy 
Cross,' from the 'St. Thomas' Hymnal,' was sung. The 
Bishop was then conducted to a chair placed under the 
chancel arch, and proceeded to address the candidates on 
the purpose for which they had assembled. He requested 
them to kneel for a few minutes in private prayer, and 
bade the congregation to join them. Then the congre- 
gation rose (the candidates still kneeling) and sang the 
Veni Creator, to the first melody in the ' Hymnal Noted.' 
After the question and answer had been made, the Bishop 
again addressed those who were to be confirmed, reminding 
them that they were about to receive no less a gift than the 
blessed Spirit of Grod. The versicles having been chanted, 
the laying on of hands commenced, the candidates kneeling 
at the chancel step. The Amen was chanted every time 
by the choir, the organ accompanying and being played 
while the confirmed were leaving and others taking their 
place. The girls were first confirmed, and afterwards the 



198 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

youths, and when all had received the ' Seal of the Spirit/ 
the Bishop addressed them once again. He told them to 
•what a privilege they had been admitted ; how fearful 
would be their sin if, by impurity, anger, evil-speaking, or 
vanity, they should grieve the Holy Spirit, and even 
quench it. He urged them not to put off the coming to 
receive their Lord at His altar, but by frequent and regular 
communion, and by earnest constant prayer, to stir up the 
gpft that had just been bestowed by the imposition of 
Episcopal hands. He then intoned the rest of the service, 
and, after the benediction, left the church, preceded through 
the graveyard to the gates by the choir, chanting Nunc 
Dimittis, to the third tone, second ending. " 

" WORSHIP GOD IN THE BEAUTY OE HOLINESS. 

" Sm, — The tithe of this parish is over £500 a year, but 
it is in the hands now of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners ; 
the incumbent has no house, and receives from those tithes 
£16 a year, from other sources his income is nearly made 
up to £100 a year. Under these circumstances our clergy- 
man is unable to do anything for our church, though most 
anxious to have all things so ordered that God may be 
manifest in His house and services, and especially does he 
desire that by the whole ordering of the church fittings, 
the life that is veiled beneath the sacraments should be mani- 
fested. As the church is now ordered, the font is placed 
in the centre aisle without any comeliness or honour, and 
no room for the worshippers to kneel around it ; and 
the altar is nearly hidden by pews, which extend even to 
the chancel, and the altar itself is a small table, and sur- 
rounded by nothing that is seemly, or befitting ' the 
greatest place of God's residence upon earth.' 

1 ' Reader, will you from love to our incarnate Lord, send 
offerings for this church, directed to me, to the care of tho 
publisher of this valuable paper. 

"I am, sir, yours obediently, 

"A Catholic. " 



"the burial of the dead rN CHRIST. 

" 'To bury the dead' is one of the corporal works of 
mercy, which any of us may be suddenly called upon to 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 199 

perform, but which few are prepared rightly to execute. 
The hour of overwhelming sorrow comes, and renders most 
men powerless to break through long- established usages, 
even though they be repugnant to their deepest religious 
convictions. Those who possess sufficient moral courage 
and self-control to do what they believe to be right are 
nevertheless deterred, because they know not how to set 
about it. "We purpose, therefore, to make a few suggestions 
for the help and guidance of those who would thankfully 
adopt a more Catholic, loving, and reverent mode of 
treating the bodies of the faithful departed from the hour 
of death till the time of burial. A mighty change on 
these points is being wrought in the minds of men by the 
revival of that long-forgotten article of the faith, — ' I 
believe in the Holy Catholic Church.' For in proportion 
as men receive this great verity they come to believe and 
realize those blessed truths, ' the communion of saints,' 
and 'the resurrection of the flesh,' which are necessary to 
a full and right faith in the Catholic Church, as the body 
of Christ. Funeral rites and ceremonies, like the ritual 
of the Church, are embodiments and symbols of the faith 
from which they spring. Hence the respective customs 
observed by Puritans and Catholics are as much at variance 
as the creeds which they profess. Thus Puritanism, re- 
jecting the pure doctrine of the Holy Catholic Church as 
one visible, living body, and making ' the communion of 
saints,' living and departed, a vague, unreal, sentimental 
thing, has necessarily invested death with a gloom and 
sadness more characteristic of heathenism than of Christian 
faith. . . . The black coffin, with its heathen emblems . . . 
are the natural expression of a cold and heartless creed. 
.... On the other hand, the Catholic Christian, looking 
upon the Church as a divine kingdom, which not only ex- 
tends its illimitable sovereignty and benign sway over all 
the kindreds of the earth, but also reaches onward into the 
world invisible, and forming one vast body, united with 
one Divine Head, pervaded by one common life, and 
carrying on perpetually that wonderful system of mediation 
which knits together the Church visible and invisible. To 
him, death and the condition of the faithful departed appear 
in a very different light. He no longer shrinks from the sight 
of death, nor invests it with impenetrable gloom ; no longer 
looks with horror upon the grave, for its dark chamber is 



200 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

illumined with the bright beams of a joyful hope of the 
resurrection to eternal life. The bitter pang of separation 
is assuaged by the precious doctrine of ' the communion 
of saints,' which teaches him daily to commemorate in 
prayer and the Holy Eucharist the souls of the faithful 
departed, and soothe his soul with a deep, inward conscious- 
ness of a real and riving communion with them. Of 
prayers for the dead we shall have more to say on another 
occasion. All the rights and usages appointed by the 
Church at the burial of her children are designed to sym- 
bolize those precious truths which only can cheer the heart 
crushed under heavy bereavements. . . . The plain elm 
coffin with the cross of victory on its lid, overshadowing it, 
as it were ; the redeemed body within, the violet pall with 
its crimson cross, tell of sorrow and victory. . . . The pro- 
cessional cross, the joyous chimes, the white-robed choir, 
the soul-inspiring words, the solemn music, the lights, 
incense, and Eucharistic sacrifice, all tell of rest and bliss 
now, and of a glory yet to be revealed. . . . "With these 
remarks, which are intended to prepare those of our readers 
who have not thought much upon this subject, to enter 
into the meaning, and to perceive the fitness and touching 
beauty of those observances, we conclude, in the hope of 
being able to resume the subject, and to give some practical 
hints to enable all who will, to bury their friends in a 
Catholic and Christian manner." 

" What we now propound to others, has afforded us the 
greatest comfort in seasons of deep sorrow ; and we feel 
sure that they may be readily carried out, either wholly or 
in part, in every Church family. 

• " Natural affection impels us to show all respect to the 
departed ; but it is the Catholic faith alone which dispels 
the gloom with which nature invests death, and teaches us 
to bestow that reverent loving care due to the body, which 
has been the temple of the Holy Grhost fed with the Body 
and Blood of Christ, and is destined again to rise in glory, 
and unfading beauty. The burial of the dead in Christ is 
a solemn and sacred duty, to be performed in a simple, 
real, earnest, intensely loving, and reverential spirit, and 
in which everything eccentric or sentimental is out of place. 
To make the subject more clear, we will divide the duties 
of the bereaved into those of (1) the day of the soul's 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 201 

departure; (2) the week of sorrow ; (3) the day of burial. 
But we must, at the outset, emphatically protest agaiust 
that cold and miserable, though common practice of locking 
the corpse in a dark and desolate chamber, as if it was a 
thing to fear or to be shunned ; a practice hardly consistent 
with the love and respect due to that which has long been 
the loved and familiar companion of our home. 

" 1. The body having been duly washed and dressed, if 
possible by loving friends, let the arms be crossed over the 
breast ; then place a cross at the head, the symbol of the 
faith in which the soid departed, and sleeps in the hope of 
a joyful resurrection ; and two lighted wax tapers, one at 
the head, the other at the feet, to be kept burning con- 
tinually day and night until the funeral, to symbolize that 
the light of the soul is not extinguished by death. Make 
the chamber bright with bouquets of flowers. The candles 
used for this purpose should be long tapers made of yellow 
wax, and about an inch in diameter. They will burn 
thirty-six or forty-eight hours, and need but little attention, 
whilst the larger candles are continually guttering, and 
emit a large quantity of carbonaceous smoke, which soon 
becomes oppressive. The early Christians always kept 
watch by the body, until the funeral, frequently singing 
psalms all the night. By the aid of friends it will be easy 
to keep this watch by the corpse each night, and at intervals 
through the day. 

" The next thing is to prepare the coffin, about which 
very explicit directions to the undertaker will be necessary. 
It shoidd be in the ancient form, made of elm wood, rubbed 
up with linseed oil to bring out the beautiful graining. 
French polish is absurd for the grave. On no account 
allow the coffin to be covered with cloth, which is a horrid 
mockery and sham. Oak and lead, as being indestructible 
and preventing the body mingling with its mother earth, 
should be avoided. It should be lined, not with the wretched 
frippery of glazed calico generally used, but with pure 
white jean, plaited in broad folds, and fastened by a band 
of white silk lace about an inch wide, nailed around 
the upper edge. The execrable black handles, and thin 
stamped plates, with their heathen emblems, should be 
forbidden. Proper furniture (that is, the handles, &c.) 
may be procured of Mr. Vigors ; or, where cost is an 
object, they may consist of quatrefoils cut out of thick zinc 



202 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

and polished, with white iron rings for handles, which are 
not only inexpensive, but simple and effective. The lid of 
the coffin may either be gabled or flat, and having a wooden 
cross extending the whole length, or a brightly-polished 
zinc one fastened over the breast with large-headed brass 
nails. At the lower end of the lid should be an engraved 
zinc or brass plate, giving the name, day of decease, and 

age of the departed, thus — * N.N. Departed this life 

a.d. 186-, aged — .' This, when nicely cut, and with red 
initials, looks bright and beautiful. "When the coffin is 
ready, we would especially urge that the placing of the 
body therein should not be left to the undertakers, but that 
loving friends should assist. Place the coffin with the foot 
towards the east, and put the cross and lighted candles at 
the head and feet, as before directed. Let the body be 
then decorated with flowers, and a cross placed on the 
breast ; and a linen house pall, with a red cross on it, laid 
over the coffin. 

"2. In the week of mourning, when Grod comes very 
near to us, smiting us to the earth, and bringing us face to 
face with death in all its awful majesty, it will be a solace to 
the sorrowing to frequent the chamber of death through the 
day ; not to indulge immoderate grief, but to offer prayers 
for themselves, and for the departed soul. Next week we 
hope to give a short service for such occasions, which has 
proved a comfort to others. 

" 3. The day of burial. All Churchmen should, on these 
sad occasions, resolutely reject the vain trappings of the 
undertaker, such as mutes standing at the door, scarves, hat 
bands, &c, which are but miserable perversions of the old 
hooded funeral cloak ; and also the black feathers on the 
undertaker's hearse or the horses. A walking funeral, where 
possible, is the right and fitting thing. A bier, covered 
with a light movable canopy called the hearse, and a violet 
pall, having a red cross running through its whole length 
and breadth, and also a white one for virgins, should be 
provided in every church. The bier being brought to the 
house (if a walking funeral, which should always be when 
possible), or standing at the church gate, the coffin is to be 
carefully placed upon it, and not carried on men's shoulders, 
the hearse is then put over it, and the pall spread over the 
whole. It should be borne by four or six bearers, carrying 
it underhanded, and with bearing-straps over the shoulder. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 203 

The pall is to be borne by four or six friends, the mourners 
following in plain clothes. If the funeral be that of a 
young woman, the pall-bearers should be clad in white, 
carrying flowers in their nands, to deposit on the coflm 
before it is lowered into the grave. On nearing the church 
the bells give out a joyous peal, in token of the victory of 
another of the Church's members. The clergy and choir 
meeting the body, preceded by the processional cross, at the 
church-gate, conduct it, singing the cheering tones of the 
burial office, to the foot of the chancel steps, in front of the 
altar, where it is deposited, covered with the pall, which is 
not to he removed or turned up. The body should not, except 
in the case of a parish priest, be taken into the chancel. 
On either side of the bier should be placed two or three 
large wax lights, sufficiently high to reach above the heads 
of the people when standing. The pall-bearers should 
stand on either side between each light, and the bearers 
behind them. These lights are beautiful and symbolical. 
St. Chrysostom informs us that it was usual to carry lights 
before the faithful departed, to signify that they were con- 
querors borne in triumph to their graves. They were also 
carried forth with psalms and hymns. St. Jerome says 
that the echoes of the Alleluias, at the funeral of Fabiola, 
shook the golden roof of the church. The psalms should 
be sung. On two or three occasions we have seen the 
priest come down after the Lesson, and taking his place at 
the head of the coffin, has waved the censer over it, whilst 
the choir sung ' Jesus lives.' Those who have once wit- 
nessed this most beautiful symbol, especially mourners, 
would never again be deprived of its use. The Holy 
Eucharistic Sacrifice should always be offered at funerals, 
pleading the One Great Sacrifice through which both the 
living and the dead obtain pardon and life ; and in which 
we have communion with the departed. The service being 
ended, the procession re-forms, the choir chanting as they 
go Psalm cxiv. At the church-door they separate right and 
left to allow the procession to pass ; and the body is taken 
to the grave. The hearse with the pall should be taken off 
the bier, and previous to its being lowered into the grave a 
wreath of immortelles and bouquets of flowers should be 
placed on the lid of the coflm. 

" We can aflirm, from experience, that a week so spent, 
in realising the reality of death, and investing it with all 



204 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

those symbols and tokens of its destruction, and a funeral so 
conducted, will be causes of thanksgiving to Glod to the very 
end of life. The restoration of these Catholic usages, so 
full of touching beauty, will do more than aught else to 
bring men back to the belief in the great mysteries of 
the Incarnation, the Death, and Resurrection of the Lord 
Jesus. 

" Kcw different the ideas conveyed by such a funeral 
and one of the horribly gloomy functions which speaks of 
death and annihilation. While the pall, with its bright 
cross, the white-robed choir, the processional cross, the 
solemn old church music, the psalms and hymns, the lights, 
and perchance the incense, all tell of faith, of hope, and 
life — of victory, and triumph, and rest, and a glorious resur- 
rection." 



The foregoing solemn bnt specious heathenism is not 
without its instruction. The writer is not afraid or 
ashamed to publish this gross ignorance, or tell these 
amazing falsehoods ! What but the teaching of the 
Holy Spirit and the appropriation of the blood of 
Christ to the sinner's soul, can bring that soul {otherwise 
lost) effectually to participate in the benefits of the 
" Incarnation, the Death and Resurrection of the Lord 
Jesus " ? Another thing is equally manifest. The 
writer, we may truly say, calls loudly for pity, and 
claims the prayer of Ghxl's people. For whilst jealousy 
for our Lord and His truth stirs up holy indignation, 
we would sorrow over the wretched condition of those 
who are so dead to truth and alive to error. It well 
becomes Christians to pray that God may yet deliver, 
and bring them into the light of life ; and may others 
who have not hitherto had opportunities of knowing 
(or believing) that such error and Popish darkness exist 
where they do; be led to receive these unmistakable 
proofs without any further hesitancy ; self-preservation 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 205 

requires an honest reception of what is, and what is not. 
"We therefore urge upon you to Watch — Beware, Seek 
Divine teaching : " Cease ye from man." 



" PROTESTANTISM IN DANGER. 

" On this holy Easter Eve we would fain call the serious 
attention of our readers to the present position of the 
Catholic party in the Church of England. As to-day we 
stand between a season of trial, self-denial, and self-ex- 
amination and a season of triumph, so it seems that the 
Catholic principle which we have so strenuously asserted 
has nearly come within hail of its time of victory. Mark the 
progress within the year which may be taken as ending to- 
day. See what has been accomplished in spite of opposition, 
and how that opposition has nearly everywhere earned the 
contempt of educated people, whether they are or are not 
numbered in our ranks. The Protestant theory has nowhere 
stood the test of comparison with the Catholic theory. Pro- 
testant practice has been always rejected when brought into 
contrast with Catholic practice. And this is the witness of 
it, that in the twelvemonth since last Easter we have suc- 
ceeded in nearly everything that we have undertaken ; and 
such discouragement as we have encountered has served 
rather to spur us on to renewed exertions than to check our 
work. Erom all parts of England we hear the welcome 
news that many who had heretofore held aloof from our 
ranks, because they did not see their way, have determined 
to halt between two opinions no longer, have settled in 
their own minds that ritual must accompany doctrine, and 
must be the light they set before men to show forth, in all 
the beauty of its symmetrical proportions, the edifice of 
the One True Faith. 

" Some seem to-be dropping off from the High and Dry 
to the Broad Church party, but more are coming daily to 
perceive that the dry bones of teaching can never be 
vivified except by the use of those forms and ceremonies 
which, so long as they tend to edifying, the Church of 
England recommends to the use of her faithful children. 
Does one, from whom better Jthings might once have been 
expected, confine his desires for ritual to the eastward 



206 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

posture of the celebrant? For that one a dozen take to 
the restoration of the legal vestments. Does one ' High 
Churchman ' cease to light the tapers on the altar ? For 
that one twenty light a host of tapers around the altar. 
Does one priest think it not worth while to make a fight 
over the old question of preaching in a surplice ? For that 
one half-a-dozen have decided to revive the use of the 
fragrant incense, which typifies the prayers of the saints. 
Even as we write, we hear of a Puritan church in which 
to-morrow they begin to chant the Psalms, by way of 
checking the drafting of the congregation to one of the 
most Catholic Churches in England, in the neighbourhood 
of which another church was some months ago compelled 
into a similar step. Just beyond the first-named church — 
and the four lie all in a line of about a quarter of a mile 
and with none others between them — a new incumbent has 
given proof that his sympathies are in the right direction, 
and that ere long he too will be declared with us. Is this 
progress or is it not ? and all within four years from 
the very first step in the good way within the district. 
The story that we have to tell of this locality is one which, 
with little variation, might be told of England generally. 
Perhaps the triumph has not been accomplished elsewhere 
so speedily; perhaps the victory has only been gained 
after many years of patient toil; perhaps in the majority 
of places it is not yet assured ; but it is coming. Our 
opponents, who lay everything to the account of preaching, 
and whose orators are fading away as dew under the 
morning sun, find their congregations decreasing ; and in- 
stead of recognizing the inevitable — instead of looking for 
the cause to the great principles of human nature met 
and satisfied by the great principles of Catholicity, they 
begin to rave and use bad language, which will not profit- 
them greatly. One by one their supporters are dropping 
into our ranks, until we begin to wonder at the success 
which it has pleased our Eisen Head to vouchsafe to those 
who are working for His honour and glory, and for the 
restoration of the beauty of holiness in His Church. 

" Here and there some Mrs. Partington attempts to stop 
the tide with her besom ; but the result is simply that she 
and her broom are both swept away. And yet no sooner 
is her form lost in the advancing waters, than some other 
of her kidney commits a similar moral suicide. The last 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 207 

of these pseudo-Conservatives has turned up in Stoke 
Newington, where the Eev. Prebendary Jackson has fallen 
in with the good work. The person's name is Ham el, and 
he belongs to some department in the Civil Service (we 
believe the Customs), his experience of tide-waiting in 
which ought to have taught him that it is usually as well to 
get out of the way of the current. At any rate, this last 
ape of Messrs. Westerton and Beale is ' Senior Church- 
warden of Stoke Newington,' and he has written a book, 
which is chiefly remarkable for two things : that, as its title, 
it proclaims the important truth we have placed at the head 
of this article ; and that he knows, if possible, less than the 
ordinary Puritan about the subject concerning which he com- 
mits himself to the folly of print. We have no desire to be 
hard upon the poor man ; but really his friends ought to 
step in and prevent another exposure like that which he 
has now made of himself. His facts are wrong, his law is 
wrong, his conclusions are wrong, save the one conclusion 
— that ' Protestantism ' is in danger — and a good thing 
too ! Protestantism is indeed in danger — nay, is moribund. 
It has always existed on false pretences, and now people 
have found it out. It has no part or lot in the evangeliza- 
tion of the future. It is as hollow a sham as its offshoot 
the Irish Church Missions — and, what is worse for it, the 
world knows the fact I 

"Mr. Ham el only serves to show how little reason 
* sound Protestants ' have on their side, and how entirely 
they mistake their cue. They will do nothing to stem the 
flood by their shrieking expostulations about everything. 
They would achieve their wretched object much better by 
writing in the Christian Remembrancer, under the mask of 
friends to the cause, anxious to check its exuberance. As it 
is, we desire no better fortune for those with whom we work, 
than that there should be a number of Hamels in England. 
Those who have not had experience of the fact can hardly 
tell how a Hamel smooths the way for the progress of 
Church principle and practice. Ordinary people object to 
his throwing stones, and stand aloof until he has ex- 
hausted himself, when they offer their sympathies to the 
mark of his missiles. ' In quietness and confidence shall 
be your strength,' is the motto of our party. Our friends 
can hardly think what an admirable recruiting sergeant a 
Hamel makes, if we have only patience to wait. 



208 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGXS. 

"But by noticing a silly attempt to mar a good work, 
we nave been drawn into some remarks which are less 
suited to the solemnity of the season than we had pur- 
posed. Our object was to bring prominently before our 
friends the great work which the Holy Arm is doing 
through His chosen instruments in England. It has come 
up like a crop of wheat — insensibly ; i first the blade, then 
the ear, and then the full corn in the ear.' Let us to- 
morrow, before the altar, bring to remembrance the harvest 
which is even now ripening ; let us there thank our Lord 
for the great mercies that He has done to us in this es- 
pecial respect ; and let us pray Him, there present, to be 
with us until next Easter, as He has been with us since last 
Easter ; so that when another Queen of Festivals comes 
to give us a holy joy, we shall be again able to raise the 
triumphant Alleluia to Him, by Whose mercy His servants 
have been enabled to do something in the past year for the 
advancement of His Church and for the glory of His 
great name. With thanksgiving for the triumph of our 
King and Head, we shall not do amiss to associate prayer 
for the speedy consummation of the triumph of His Bride, 
which is the Church." — The Church Times, April, 1865. 

" There are a host of vestrymen in London who object 
to vestments, to altar lights, to surplices, choirs, to choral 
service — to anything but that to which they have been 
pleased to give their all-sufficient imprimatur, and who 
have ' put themselves in communication with Lord West- 
meath.' Birds of a feather flock together, we are told; 
like attracts like ; the vestrymen and Lord Westmeath are 
capitally matched. Their first move was to make formal 
complaints to the bishops. This petard was not long of 
exploding, and hoisting its engineers. They came to the 

conclusion that the bishops could not help them 

The law, unfortunately, is on the side of those dreadful 
Puseyites; and the only thing left for the bishops, and 
the Marquis, and the vestrymen to do, is to ' get the law 
altered.' .... The Marquis of Westmeath has under- 
taken to run a bill through both Houses for the correction 
of these abuses.' How very charming ! The Puseyites 

are to be squashed and sat upon by a special Act 

They may steal a march upon us, if we be not warned in 
time ; your viper is dangerous sometimes, if he reach you 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 209 

through, the rank grass in which you are calmly walking. 
We do not think there is much danger to be apprehended if 
we can only see the snake in time to deal him a good blow 
with a stout cudgel ; and we are happy to know that the 
Westmeath-Whalley Association is being met by a counter 
organization. While some of the bishops, it is reported, 
were not unwilling to lend a hand to the Protestant move- 
ment, several others, with greater spirit than we should 
have been inclined to eredit them with, declared their 
intention to throw in their lot with us if the scheme were 
persisted in. This is, at least, satisfactory ; and it is 
pleasant, moreover, to know that measures have been 
taken to nip the Westmeath plant in the bud, if ever the 
seed should fructify. We are not at present at liberty to 
say more ; but we have sounded the note of warning to 
churchmen that they may be ready, if called upon, to sup- 
port the cause which they have at heart Will 

not somebody offer a reward for the production of the 
person who believes in Whalley ? As for Lord Westmeath — 
poor man! — he does not believe in himself." — The Church 
Times, June, 1865. 

The foregoing article needs no comment. It is plain 
— no Protestant or Eomanist can misunderstand it. 

The author's apology for inserting these lengthened 
articles is simply stated in the following remarks : — 
Multitudes of people are altogether ignorant of what 
they ought to know — others suppose they are in pos- 
session of all they need. Hence the number of persons 
who need arousing and alarming are not the few, but 
the many. The world at large, professors of religion, 
and even Christians, must be included in this remark. 
Alas ! many " having eyes," cannot see afar off, but 
stumble even at home, as do the blind : and " having 
ears," are so hard of hearing, that probably they 
may continue to enjoy such deafness till they be 
stunned by a thundering avalanche, overwhelming 
and destructive — the natural result of the antagonism 



210 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

now going on with spiritualism, Pomanism, and infi- 
delity. 

Howincapable are infidel disputants, and all who amuse 
themselves with Divine revelation, of believing, in their 
present state, that they are only just suspended, moment by 
moment, from rolling down an eternal precipice — for ever 
to realize. " I also will laugh at your calamity ; I will 
mock when your fear cometh ; when your fear cometh as 
desolation, and your destruction cometh as a whirlwind ; 
when distress and anguish cometh upon you. Then 
shall they call upon me, but I will not answer ; th.Qj 
shall seek me early, but they shall not find me : for 
that they hated knowledge, and did not choose the fear 
of the Lord. Therefore shall they eat of the fruit of 
their own way, and be filled with their own devices " 
(Pro v. i.) 

A few more daring strides in this conflicting iniquity 
may suffice to fill up and complete the prophetic word. 
But whilst the unwary are being caught in the net, 
and the " disputers " encircled with chains, the Lord's 
people are afforded increasing opportunities for proving 
their blessed security in the " Rock of Ages," who is 
" a refuge from the storm, a shadow from the heat, 
when the blast of the terrible ones is as a storm against 
the wall." " When the enemy shall come in like* a 
flood, the Spirit of the Lord shall lift up a standard 
against him." 

It is strengthening to faith to take a retrospect, and 
let the faithfulness of Christ in such cases as the follow- 
ing help to buckle on our armour : — 



"With John Leaf, John Bradford received the martyr's 
crown in Sniithfield ; approaching the stake he said, ' Ob, 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 211 

England, England, repent of thy sins, repent of thy sins ; 
beware of idolatry ; beware of antichrist ; take heed they 
do not deceive you.' Embracing his ' companion in tribu- 
lation,' he said, ' Strait is the gate, and narrow is the way, 
that leadeth to eternal salvation, and few there be that 
find it.' He died rejoicing." 

A contrast; from the Church Times: — 



"VESTMENTS. 

"Sir, — I observe in the June circular of the E. C. IT., 
a method of familiarizing people with Eucharistic and other 
vestments, which is exceedingly simple, and deserves imi- 
tation. The committee of the Stepney Branch E. C. U. 
gave an evening conversazione on May 3, at which a cope, 
several chasubles, dalmatics, tunicles, stoles, palls, &c, 
were exhibited and explained. If it should be proposed 
at some future time to introduce these things into Stepney, 
the people will know exactly what is coming, and will not 
be startled, as they might be if taken unprepared. Why 
not copy this example all over the country ? The lenders 
of the different articles are, no doubt, willing to repeat 
their loans to others. 

"A Ohasubled Priest." 



TRACTARIANISM m THE CITY. 

Under this title the Record reprints the following 
letter addressed to a contemporary : — 

"A charity sermon was preached at the parish church of 
St. Michael, Paternoster Royal, College Hill, on Sunday 
last. The Lord Mayor, sheriffs, and other corporation 
authorities were present, to patronise a charity, for Pro- 
testant purposes, in a Protestant church, themselves being 
the dignified representatives of a venerable Protestant 
corporation. The sermon was preached by the Eev. M. 
Collins, and the prayers were read by the Eev. T. Darling, 
the rector of the parish. The communion-table was luxu- 
riously decorated with flowers and massive candlesticks, 
with candles in them. During some of the prayers the 
Eev. T. Darling did not face the congregation, for whose 

p 2 



212 spiritualism a:nd other signs. 

spiritual benefit he was reading, but lie looked aside towards 
the north or the south, and out of a small book, which he 
held somewhat secretly or obscurely. When he went to 
the communion-table, he sat, not in the usual manner, but 
in a chair against the rails, and again not with his face 
towards the people. This was neither Popery nor Pro- 
testantism ; it seems that a new and third religious sect is 
coming up, who may be called ' north-easters.' " 

The following advertisements are instructive, also 
from the Church Times : — 

EUCHAEISTIC VESTMENTS, ETC. 
E. L. Blomfield, &c._ 
Complete Low Mass set of Vestments, Copes, Altar-cloths, Incense, &c. 

TEANSUBSTANTIATION; or, Thoughts on the Change consequent 
on Consecration in the Lord's Supper. By an English Churchman. 
London : G. J. Palmer, 32, Little Queen Street. 

A LAEGE DOUBLE DEMY BILL for posting on walls, price 2d. 
GOOD ^ FEIDAY. 

"Is IT NOTHING TO YOU, 0, ALL YE THAT PASS BY?" 

Your Lord was Crucified for you on Good Friday ! Dare you meet 
Him in judgment if you do not 

Keep Good Friday ? 



"THE SURPLICE. 

"I am very glad that a writer in your columns has ad- 
vocated the cause of the ample surplice of the Church of 
England. The 'Cotta' was unknown in early and 
mediaeval times. That very learned and candid Roman 
Catholic ritualist, Can. Bock, D.D., remarks, * Honorius, in 
the year 1 1 30, describes the surplice as a white loose vest 
that reached down to the feet. . . . That the surplice used 
in Catholic England answered this description, and was 
long, with flowing sleeves, and, though more ample, per- 
fectly resembled the form of the surplice in use on the 
continent, in Italy, and especially in Home, is evident from 
the illuminations of old English MSS. and legends of the 
saints.' It is to be lamented that no general attempt has 
been made to reproduce the old English surplice within 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 213 

our sanctuaries. Independently of possessing a title to 
our reverence on account of being a venerable relic of our 
once Catholic National Church — an incident alone sufficient 
to demand the restoration of the ancient form — this vest- 
ment comes recommended to our good taste by its intrinsic 
gracefulness. Its ample and majestic sleeves and flowing 
drapery render it more dignified and becoming than the 
present winged surplice. . . . Let us hope, however, that 
ere long, as the study of ecclesiastical antiquities, but of 
those of our ancient British Church in particular, becomes 
more extended, the surplice will be again fashioned 
according to that graceful model which still prevails 
through Italy, and once prevailed in England, prior to the 
much-to-he-lamented change of religion. . . . Let us endeavour 
to restore everywhere amongst us the daily prayers, and 
(at the least) weekly communion ; the proper Eucharistic 
vestments, lighted and vested altars, the ancient tones of 
prayer and praise, frequent offertories, the meet celebra- 
tions of fasts and festivals (all of which, and much more of 
a kindred nature, is required by our ecclesiastical statutes) ; 
but let us be careful not to retard the general return of the 
clergy to rubrical regularity, by attempting as individuals, 
and by the adoption of isolated practices, to do more than 
our Church sanctions in the ceremonial departments of 
Divine Service." — The Editor of the " Hierurgia Anglicana." 
The Church Times, Jitne, 1865. 

" To account for the secessions (from Protestantism and 
joining the Church of Rome) which have already occurred, 
it is necessary to examine the religious training which 
these persons have been accustomed to. It is beyond 
question that for the most part they were members of the 
Anglican Establishment, and, as a body, opposed to the 
Evangelical doctrines, which many earnest and pious 
ministers of that Establishment preach. The leaders were 
clergymen who had accepted the Articles and Book of 
Common Prayer and the Ordinal as the legalized dogmatic 
and ritualistic teaching of the Church, whilst the laity who 
followed them were chiefly influenced — as was natural 
under the circumstances — by the Book of Common Prayer. 
Each of them believed, and was trained by the Church in 
the belief, that the ministry of the word and sacraments 
was to be restricted to those who revived Episcopal ordi- 



214 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

nation, and that that ordination conveyed, or conferred 
the Holy Ghost for the office and work of the ministry, and 
invested all priests with power to remit or retain sins in the 
name of the Father, and of the Son, and of the Holy Ghost. 
Each of them "believed that ' the sacraments ordained of 
Christ .... he certain snre witnesses and effectual signs 
of grace, and God's goodwill towards us, BY THE 
WHICH He doth work invisibly in us, and doth not only 
quicken, but also strengthen and confirm our faith in Him ' 
(Article xxv.) ; or, in other words — as the Catechism defines 
sacraments — they believed that baptism and the supper of 
the Lord were 'generally necessary to salvation,' because 
each of them is an outward and visible sign of an inward 
and spiritual grace given unto us, ordained by Christ him- 
self as a means WHEEEBY we receive the same, and a 
pledge to assure us thereof. Accordingly they regarded 
their baptism as an outward and visible sign, ' WHEEE- 
BY ' they experienced ' a death unto sin, and a new birth 
unto righteousness ; for, being by nature born in sin, and 
the children of wrath, we are HEEEBY ' — said thev, in 
the words of the Catechism—' we are HEEEBY MADE 
the children of grace.' In like manner they 'received' 
bread and wine in the Lord's Supper, but ' the inward and 
spiritual grace given' by those 'means' was 'the body 
and blood of Christ, which are verily and indeed taken and 
received by the faithful in the Lord's Supper;' so that 
'the benefits whereof they say — in the prescribed words 
of the Catechism — 'we are partakers THEEEBY,' were 
' the strengthening and refreshing of our souls by the body 
and blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the bread and 
wine.' They were thus dependent on the validity of a 
human priesthood, authorized to dispense sacramental 
grace. Apostolical succession, baptismal regeneration, the 
benefit of auricular confession in cases of sickness, the 
power of the priesthood to absolve the penitent from all 
his sins by the authority of our Lord Jesus Christ com- 
mitted unto them, the Eeal Presence in the consecrated 
bread and wine of the Eucharist, and their cognate dogmas 
were cordially received by them as explicitly, or inexplicitly, 
taught in the Liturgy, and consequently involved in, or at 
least in no sense contradictory of, the Thirty-nine Articles ; 
and for a while they were content to remain in the Anglican 
Establishment, because it asserted and implied these so- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGXS. 215 

called Catholic Truths. By degrees one and another 
sought refuge in the Church of Rome ; but the great body 
of those who clung to these doctrines, as the teaching of 
the Anglican Establishment, remained in its communion, 
and manfully strove to vindicate their position. Some 
were startled and detached from their old connections by 
the Grorham judgment; others who were shocked by it 
hoped that, in the celebrated case of Archdeacon Denison, 
they might receive comfort from a judgment in favour of 
his teaching as to the Lord's Supper ; but when that case 
was settled, or rather set aside, on a technical ground, they 
reconciled themselves with marvellous dexterity to their 
position ; and now that the judgment of the Privy Council 
has been pronounced in the case of the ' Essays and Re- 
views ' they all are still content to remain — and to remain 
as long as they can — in the pale of the Establishment. 
The increased tenderness manifested by Englishmen in 
their estimate of Romish doctrines and practices is not, 
however, to be accounted for solely by the teaching of the 
clergy belonging to that party in the Church which I have 
referred to, nor by the zeal of those men in priestly offices 
of all kinds, but must be attributed, in a great degree, to 
various concurring influences, such as — the fascinating 
beauty and seductive charms of ' The Christian Year,' which 
everybody reads, and everybody professes to admire — the 
revival of taste, especially shown in fondness for Grothic 
architecture and its befitting decoration and symbolism for 
places of public worship — a desire to make the public 
services of Grod as artistic and finished as the performance 
of an opera or an oratorio could be, and the consequent 
mimicry in Protestant sanctuaries of the arts of the 
Romanists in these respects — the increased regard for 
ritual amongst the Evangelical clergy as well as their 
neighbours — the general custom amongst ladies of wearing 
the cross as an ornament, and the use of the same symbol 
as a bookbinding embellishment of Bibles and books of 
devotion — the formation of sisterhoods and confraternities 
— amongst these the ' Association for the Promotion of the 
Unity of all Christendom ' deserves especial notice. It 
has been formed to secure ' a Corporate Re-union of the 
Roman Catholic, Greek, and Anglican Churches.' The 
daily use of a short form of prayer, together with ' Our 
Father ' — for the intention of the Association — is the only 



216 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

obligation incurred by those who join it ; to which is added, 
in the case of the priests, the offering, at least once in three 
months, of the holy sacrifice, for the same 'intention.' It 
was formed in 1857 by thirty -four persons ; it now numbers 
more than 7,000 members, of whom 'the greater majority 
are members of the Church of England !!'.... This 
fact stares all Englishmen in the face — that the clergy in 
the Establishment need not so much inquire whether their 
teaching of doctrine be true, as whether it is legal. It is 
legal, for example, for Dr. Pusey to affirm, and for Dean 
Groode to deny, spiritual regeneration in baptism, though 
each of them having baptized a child, thanks God that it 
1 hath pleased ' Him ' to regenerate this child with water 
and the Holy Ghost ! ' It is legal to teach the real presence 
of Christ in the Eucharist, and to speak of 'the due 
receiving of His blessed body and blood under the form of 
bread and wine,' and to teach that the consecrated elements 
are but the memorials of His passion. It is legal for the 
clerical writers of ' Essays and Reviews ' to deny the in- 
spiration of various portions of the Holy Scriptures ; and 
for bishops and others — as the unauthorized and powerless 
convocation of the province of Canterbury did, in both 
houses, by a miserable majority — to affirm the contrary. 
So far as their position in the Establishment is concerned, 
the clergy need not now be troubled by scruples as to 
whether they teach the truth in such matters ; their only 
care must be to keep within the meshes of the law ! Such 
is the present condition of the Anglican Establishment ; so 
that it needs no great insight into the future to prognosticate 
the results which must follow when the ' authority ' of such 
a Church is contrasted with that of the Church of Rome. 

" English Churchmen have been, and still are trained 
by the clergy to contemn Evangelical Dissenters, and to 
treat them as schismatics and corruptors of Catholic truth ; 
they must henceforth be modest enough to remember that 
their boasted establishment legalises the teaching of con- 
tradictory doctrines on the same topics, and that there is 
no power in their so-called Church to decide what is the 
truth of God, and to require the clergy to preach it only. 
... In a book of devotions largely and hig x hly esteemed 
amongst the clergy, priests are taught to pray before cele- 
brating, in these words* : — ' Now, Lord, mindful of Thy 

* " The Priest's Prayer Book." Elited by two clergymen. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER. SIGNS. 217 

venerable passion, I approach Thine altar, to offer Thee 
that sacrifice which Thou hast instituted and commanded 
to be offered in remembrance of Thee for our wellbeing. 
Receive it, we beseech Thee, G-od Most High, for Thy 
holy Church, and for the people whom Thou hast purchased 
with Thy precious blood. And since Thou hast willed 
that I, a sinner, should stand between Thee and this Thy 
people .. . . let not, through my unworthiness, the price 
of their salvation be wasted, for whom Thou didst vouch- 
safe to be a saving victim and redemption. ... I pray 
Thy clemency, Lord, that on the bread to be offered unto 
Thee may descend the fulness of Thy benediction, and the 
sanetification of Thy Divinity. May there descend, also ? 
the invisible and incomprehensible majesty of Thy Holy 
Spirit, as it descended of old on the sacrifices of the 
fathers, which may make our oblations Thy body and blood. 
And teach me, an unworthy priest, to handle so great a 
mystery with purity of heart, and the devotion of tears, 
with reverence and trembling, so that Thou mayest 
graciously and favourably receive the sacrifices at my 
hands for the good of all,, living and departed'. 7 And 
after celebrating, they are taught to say : — ' Almighty and 
everlasting God, the Preserver of souls, and the Redeemer 
of the world, very favourably regard me, Thy servant, 
prostrate before Thy Majesty, and most graciously accept 
this sacrifice , which, in honour of Thy name, I have offered 
for the saving health of the faithful living as well as departed, 
as also for all our sins and offences/ In perfect con- 
sistency with such pretensions, auricular confession is en- 
couraged,-]- and priestly absolution i3 given to penitents ; 
and prayers for the dead — which, by the way, Sir H. Jenner, 
in ' Woolfrey v. the Vicar of Carisbrooke, ' judicially declared 
to be ' not contrary to the articles or canon of the Church of 
England' — are offered; as a collection of such, ' Prayers . . . 
for the use of the members of the Church of England,' first 
published nearly twenty years ago, abundantly serves to 
■ prove. By these means the people of England are being 
led, step by step-, towards the Church of Rome, and are 
being prepared to receive the entire cycle of her doctrines. 
At present no bishop has given a sign of interference, and 

f " Confession is distinctly recognised, and very extensively practised 
n the Church of England, exactly after the pattern, and in the very 
words of the Koman method." — Christian Remembrancer. 



218 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

it would seem as if the entire bench were content that 
things should take their course! Perhaps they feel, as 
travellers in the high Alps sometimes do, that silence is 
the condition of their safety ; since a word might disturb 
a few of the atoms around and above them, and these, 
gathering momently, might roll down in a thundering 
avalanche and overwhelm them in destruction. But even 
so, they must be declared guilty, before God and man, of 
being content to receive these things and their opposites as 
equally legal, without troubling themselves to pronounce 
them true or false. They register and act upon the judg- 
ment of the State to which they belong ; but they either 
cannot, or do not, interpret and enforce the decrees of 
'another King, one Jesus !' " — Rev. George Gould. 

Surely no honest mind can object to knowing the 
truth as to the foundation, position, and results of what 
lie holds dear. It is only just that every one should 
have the opportunity of proving all things, that he 
may know what is good and what is evil. The full 
result of good and evil, honesty and dishonesty, will 
soon be brought to an eternal separation. Will it avail 
any one in " that day " to find that ritualism and creeds, 
with all the authority of bishops and priests, have 
utterly failed to deliver from the guilt and punishment 
of sin? 

Any sinner who trusts in a refuge so hopeless, must 
sooner or later discover, to .his profound consterna- 
tion, that nothing can take the place of Divine faith in 
Jesus Christ — and nothing can be a substitute for the 
known efficacy of His cleansing blood. 

"things worth knowing. 

"The (Eoman) Catholic Church is getting to feel its 
true dignity and right position in this country. What we 
of course aim at, in God's good time and way, is to be, as 
we have once been, the DOMINANT Church of England. 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGXS. 219 

"We had gradually, under the pressure of the penal laws, 
forgotten our place in the world as Grod's only Church ; we 
had been snubbed so successfully, that we thought it gain 
even to make common cause with the sects of yesterday 
(Dissenters), and pinning ourselves to their sleeve, to get, 
if it might be, a share in the poor pickings of concession 
which, with mighty professions and small fruit, were from 
time to time vouchsafed to us." — Rev. F. Oakley {a Pervert). 
— Tablet {Romish Paper) May, 1859. 

" If ever there was a land in which work is to be done, 
and perhaps much to suffer, it is here. I shall not say too 
much if I say that we have to subjugate and subdue, to 
conquer and rule an imperial race ; we have to do with a 
will which reigns throughout the world as the will of old 
Rome reigned once ; we have to bend or break that will 
which nations and kingdoms have found invincible and in- 
flexible. . . . Were heresy {i.e., Protestantism) conquered 
in England, it would be conquered throughout the world. 
All its lines meet here, and therefore in England the 
Church of Glod must be gathered in its strength." — Rev. 
Dr. Manning {a Pervert). — Tablet, Aug., 1859. 

1 ' When it was generally expected that the Emperor of 
the French contemplated an invasion of England, the 
Tablet, in a leading article, wrote : — ' It will be the most 
popular act in his life. He will have every Frenchman on 
his side, with the unconcealed sympathies of every nation 
in the world. When he sets out upon his campaign on . 
English soil, he need fear no secret societies or insurrec- 
tions at home ; he will be hailed as the avenger of nations, 
and as the scourge of a race that is unpopular wherever it 
is known.' "—Tablet, 1859. 

" ... You ask if the Roman Catholics were lords in 
the land, and you were in a minority, if not in numbers, 
yet in power, what would he do to you ? That, we say, 
would entirely depend upon circumstances. If it would 
benefit the cause of Catholicism, he would tolerate you ; 
if expedient, he would imprison you, banish you, fine you, 
possibly he might even hang you. But be assured of one 
thing, he would never tolerate you for the sake of the glorious 
principles of civil and religious liberty. . . . Shall I hold 



220 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS* 

out hopes to the Protestant that I will not meddle with 
his creed if he will not meddle with mine ? Shall I lead 
him to think that religion is a matter for private opinion, 
and tempt him to forget that he has no more right to his 
religious views than he has to my purse, or my horse, or 
my life blood ? No ! Catholicism is the most intolerant 
of creeds. It is intolerance itself, for it is the truth itself." 
— Rambler {Roman Catholic Magazine), Sept., 1855. 

"If the Pope should err in commending vice, or for- 
bidding virtue, the Church is bound, to believe vice to be 
good, and virtue to be bad." — Bellarmine de Pontifice, Book 
IV., chap. 5. 

These things can only be attributed to the work of 
the enemy of the truth, (rod's ministers are not by 
man's appointment. "But I certify you, brethren, that the 
gospel which was preached of me is not after man. For I 
neither received it of man, neither was I taught it, but by 
the revelation of Jesus Christ," who qualifies His servants 
by the Holy Ghost to. preach the truth in season and out of 
season, and to " contend for the faith once delivered to the 
saints/' in opposition to the stratagems of the wicked 
one. All classes are now brought under the Word, for 
the rightly ordained ministers are now what they ever 
were — men not confined to any station or human 
education, but taken up by Grod out of all, from the 
peer of the realm to the unlettered collier. Herein is 
manifested the distinction between the spiritual ad- 
ministration of the " One Lord," and the carnal con- 
fusion resulting from the traditions and " command- 
ments of men." Thus the Head of the Church is 
" making a people prepared for the Lord," whose 
coming all believers must regard as certain at some — 
possibly at any — moment. 

The time may not be far distant when far greater 
signs and developments shall be seen by all, while 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 221 

" many shall "be purified, and made white, and tried ; 
but the wicked shall do wickedly: and none of the 
wicked shall understand; but the wise shall under- 
stand." (Dan. xii. 10.) So it has ever been when the 
foe has pressed hard upon the Church of Christ to try 
and extinguish her light, the brighter it has burned. 
In what has persecution ever resulted, whether in the 
Church collectively or individually, but " glory to Grod 
in tho highest; and on earth peace, goodwill toward 
men?" (Luke ii. 14.) Precious are the fruits of His 
love and faithfulness. Some of us now living may 
know more of the results of persecution presently, but 
in the meanwhile we need to be watching unto prayer, 
realizing our oneness with our risen Lord. 

" Looking off unto Jesus " will keep us alive to our 
high calling and the glory yet to be revealed. Tribu- 
lation will thicken around us, that, " if it were possible, 
shall deceive the very elect." Surely it behoves us 
then to be separated from all known or doubtful 
hindrance to our resurrection life and walk of faith in 
Christ. In close communion with Him we shall hear 
a word behind us saying, " This is the way, walk ye in 
it," while many are being snared and taken, and 
others, in the forwardness of inexperienced zeal (which is 
not confined to the young), mistake their calling, and 
instead of attending to that to which they are called, 
try to go where they are not sent. But so long as they 
recognize the footprints of others, and justify them- 
selves on the plea of " doing as others do," their work 
is rather an imitation of man than a following of Christ. 
" "Without Me ye can do nothing." 

In the midst of vast excitement — supineness — zeal — 
zeal without knowledge — and delusion — painful extremes 



222 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

are very visible on the part of some of (rod's witnesses. 
On the one hand, Christian men and women, who, 
from their long standing in the battlefield, ought to be 
veterans and mothers in Israel, are most disappointing. 
While we look for their testimony in unflinching bold- 
ness for the truth, and against the fierce arrows around 
us, how many are silent, and take no decided stand ; 
they appear on neutral ground. " He that gathereth 
not with me, scattereth abroad." This is very deplor- 
able while our Lord's enemies are encamping about us 
on every side ; and who are to fight His battles, 
esteeming it the greatest honour to be so engaged, 
even unto the death ? On the other hand, how liable 
are Christian youths in these excitable days to take 
upon themselves the ministry of the Word, going 
about preaching and exhorting before they are suffix 
ciently taught the deceit and wickedness of their own 
hearts, or established in the dootrines of grace, so that 
they not unfrequently find themselves in needless 
temptations, and unexpectedly discover their ignorance 
in some humiliating result, being short of that needful 
experience which the apostle gave to Timothy. " Let 
no man despise thy youth ; But be thou an example of 
the believers, in word, in conversation, in charity, in 
spirit, in faith, in purity. Till I come, give attendance 
to reading, to exhortation, to doctrine. Neglect not 
the gift that is in thee, which was given thee by 
prophecy, with the laying on of hands of the pres- 
bytery (hands by which, in those days, the distinctive 
gifts of the Holy Ghost were imparted). Meditate 
upon these things; give thyself wholly to them; 
that thy profiting may appear to all. Take heed unto 
thyself, and unto the doctrine ; continue in them : for 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 223 

in doing this thou shalt both save thyself, and them 
that hear thee." (1 Tim. iv. 12—16.) A little more 
education in Grods school would be an advantage in 
many instances, before attempting either to preach or 
teach. A timely caution is not likely to injure the 
teacher or the taught. In days when specious errors 
are leading so many into false paths, preachers and 
teachers are more than ever called upon to be clad with 
" the whole armour of Grod," lest they should become 
the unconscious instruments in fulfilling the wily arts 
of the wicked one. How is it possible to preach or 
teach in the power of the truth unless our own felt need 
takes us continually to draw from " the riches in glory 
by Christ Jesus ? " 

In a world of sin and sorrow we find many poor 
travellers wounded and stript by the thieves as they go 
down from Jerusalem to Jericho (we are sure to get 
among thieves if we go down from our Jerusalem 
standing) — many ignorant, wishing to be taught; 
many rebellious, seeking to avoid us as we seek to 
find them, because of the truth. How can we, like 
the good Samaritan, pour in oil and wine, teach the 
ignorant, or follow up the self-destroying rebel unless 
we ourselves have the unction of the holy One and the 
blood of the slain Lamb upon our hearts and con- 
sciences, realizing "the Lord is my Shepherd, He 
restoreth my soul?" If we would be faithful there are 
so many trying things to speak, so many sorrowful 
things to listen to and to act in, and so much to unteach 
whilst teaching, that close walking with Grod, self- 
denial, and discipline in the truth are requisites apart 
from which we cannot minister in the Lord, or for man, 
faithfully. 



224 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS, 

Under this head it is to be feared that some women 
may be found greatly at fault. There are land-marks 
given in Grod's Word not to be misunderstood as to 
the position appointed for women, containing general 
rules for individual application. Nevertheless, it is the 
province of a sovereign Grod to make His own excep- 
tions, but not so as to sacrifice personal and relative 
duties. For instance, Grod would not give a mother 
work to do which involved the neglect of her first 
calling, or in any way lessened her sacred responsibility 
in the bosom of her family. It would therefore be very 
hard to believe that God's exceptions would extend to 
calling any mother away from her family to preach 
to others, while she is bound by Him to the discharge 
of hourly, though may-be unostentatious services in her 
position of real dignity and power. The fulfilment 
of these is far more acceptable to a heart-searching 
Grod than were her voice to sound from pole to pole in 
loud and eloquent discourse. We cannot take excep- 
tion because of " good results." Grod sometimes sees 
fit to overrule all and everything for His own glory in 
bringing sinners to inquire, repent, and believe the 
Gospel. (Even the blasphemy and oaths of His 
enemies have been known to bring people to their 
knees.) Results should not decide our judgment. 
Not being of Grod, it is worse than vanity. 

Well, admitting the question, if there are any 
exceptions, in accepting a woman's preaching, under 
what circumstances do they exist ? Surely we might 
look for such self-distinguishing women to be so clearly 
defined that none should know their circumstances, 
lives, &c, and hear them preach without at once being 
able to acknowledge, "It is of Grod, who has said, I 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 225 

will work, and who shall let it ? " Some may wish 
to refer to what is said in Joel ii. There is a time 
appointed for the fulfilment of every prophecy, and we 
read, " Upon the servants and upon the handmaids in 
those days will I pour out my Spirit." But this is in 
connection with "And I will show wonders in the 
heavens and in the earth, blood, and fire, and pillars of 
smoke. The sun shall be turned into darkness, and the 
moon into blood." 

Surely when such things come to pass there will be 
no questioning as to the appointed " servants " and 
" handmaids." If qualified Christian men were lacking 
in preaching " in season and out of season," it might be 
less difficult to accept female preachers. There are 
many texts in the Bible bearing strongly on this subject, 
but the " things pure," " lovely," and " of good report," 
in Phil. iv. 8, seem to infer something. Women need 
not neglect any duty, or thrust themselves where they 
are not called, and yet the very province of a Christian 
woman is to labour with others " in the Gospel," and 
for this she will find ample employment within her own 
doors and elsewhere. A diligent Christian finds work 
in the Gospel with all with whom she has to do, and 
when it is done for God it needs not the praise of man. 

There seems to be such a spirit now possessing 
people's minds for trying after something new, rather 
to astonish than to profit; something notorious is looked 
for and encouraged more than becoming simplicity. 
Anything like a "Tragedy Queen," a "Tower of 
Babel," or any other extraneous novelty, are the pre- 
sent temptations, which, alas, are not always confined 
to the people of the world — temptations indeed, for 
" Christians have not so learned Christ." 



226 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

It is not so much a matter of capability, for un- 
questionably some women can preach better than 
some men ; the point is whether or not such or such a 
woman is directed by God to preach, and thus to 
occupy this position of exception to a general rule? 
But certainly it appears more seemly for any woman 
who really possesses the constraining love of Christ, 
and power even to preach, to be found employing 
these capabilities in visiting the ignorant, neglected, 
poor, sick, and sorrowful amongst all classes. Alas ! 
there is no lack of such cases everywhere. Women 
who are thus engaged can prove that there are multi- 
tudes of their fellow-creatures ever calling for the 
loving and quick impulses of unselfish hearts. These 
are the very qualifications which God has bestowed 
upon woman, and for no mean employ. She can go 
where man is necessarily denied — all are glad to have 
the sympathy and confidence which woman so often 
has it in her power to impart. Great, honourable, and 
blessed is this work and its mission, hidden though it 
be from the applause of the world. 

Contrast this with the empty visits and vain conver- 
sation of the world, and what do you see and hear ? 
Many are talking about Christ, and even of His coming 
again (merely as the great subject of the day) with little 
or no personal concern in the matter. But are none of 
God's people found amongst " the stuff," as though they 
were one with a doomed world, to the dishonour of the 
name they bear, while all manner of selfish indulgences 
are gratified, luxuries and extravagances enjoyed, and 
obtained by spending money for which the wants of 
others call, and for which an account must be given ? 
And what are the results obtained? No honour 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 227 

brought to or received from the Church of Christ or 
from the world. The former are grieved, the latter 
despise such inconsistency, while they gladly take 
shelter for themselves in " not professing what others 
do." So far well, that the world should not profess 
what they do not possess. But the inconsistencies of 
those who do possess the love of Christ will not shelter 
poor self- deceivers who live and die ignorant of that love 
as the only refuge for sinners. And what benefit to 
any one will the inconsistencies of Cod's people confer 
when the great white throne is set up, and all shall 
meet there to give an account of " the things done in 
his body, according to that he hath done, whether it be 
good or bad." No self-appropriation of the consistencies 
or inconsistencies of our fellow mortals will avail in that 
day. It is altogether another question. " He that hath 
the Son hath life, he that hath not the Son of Cod 
hath not life." 

But to return to Christians who are hardly known 
to be such through their manifested worldliness : how 
little they can know about that deep stripping of self 
and separation from the world, involved in "looking 
off unto Jesus," to enable the soul indeed and in truth 
to walk with Cod, which is the essence of knowing 
" Thy favour is better than life." The possessor of 
such joy, such favour, knows too well that nothing 
short of "holiness unto the Lord" can maintain the 
like blessed experience, to risk even the partial loss of 
it for anything or everything this world can offer. 
But, happy in the satisfaction of walking with Cod, 
the world becomes a waste-howling wilderness, and its 
temptations cease to tempt. 

Apart from Christ's glory and immortal souls the 
Q2 



228 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHEK SIGNS. 

world is regarded as a chaos of sin and sorrow. We 
must say that those Christians who still cling to it 
&nd its pleasures are not whole-hearted before Grod or 
man, they are double-minded, unstable, not happy. 
There is no such thing as serving two masters. In the 
first place those who try to do so give Grod the lie, and 
the result must be what they find. The world rules, 
and the peace and joy of believing departs — and such 
is their testimony of Christ. What can they know 
about the Christian paradox, "sorrowful, yet alwajr 
rejoicing ;" " as having nothing, and yet possessing all 
things;" "the world is crucified unto me, and I unto 
the world;" "looking for and hasting unto the 
coming of the day of Grod;" "rejoicing in hope;" or 
of that heavenly mindedness which is the effect of 
having died and risen with Christ ? In this age of 
luxury and display, when every art and discovery are 
united to teach people how many cultivated carnal 
desires can be nurtured, and the eye, the flesh, and the 
pride of life are gorged, even 'to the wondrous display 
and ingenuities of shop-windows, it is marvellous that 
Christians, to a man, cannot perceive the smouldering 
hot-bed which is universally and rapidly preparing to 
throw up its own production — not a mushroom — but 
that " man of sin," " the son of perdition" (2 Thess. ii). 
"And he shall speak great words against the Most 
High and shall wear out the saints of the Most 
High" (Dan. vii. 25). "And they worshipped the 
dragon, which gave power unto the beast: and they 
worshipped the beast, saying, who is like unto the 
beast ? who is able to make war with him ? And 
there was given unto him a mouth speaking great 
tilings and blasphemies" (Eev. xiii. 4, 5). 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 229 

But the question is, have Christians now anything to 
do with all this preparation for the coming tribulation, 
horrors, and judgment ? Are they, whilst in the midst of 
it, separated from it in heart and life ? Are they walking 
by faith with Christ in His life and resurrection ? Are 
they contented to be pilgrims and strangers before man, 
desiring no more of this world's possessions than what 
the sainted pilgrim needs for his journey ? If so they 
can say, " To me to live is Christ, and to die is gain." 

To be allured by, or in any way to be mixed up with 
this hot-bed, out of which grows " all deceivableness of 
sin," is practically helping to prepare for " the man of 
sin." Indeed sin and iniquity are being so rapidly 
developed, that a very little more may be sufficient to 
develop this foretold " man of sin " — the personification 
of the devil. "We read, " And all that dwell upon the 
earth shall worship him, whose names are not written 
in the book of life of the Lamb slain from the founda- 
tion of the world. And he causeth all, both small and 
great, rich and poor, free and bond, to receive a mark 
in their right hand, or in their foreheads " (Eev. xiii. 
8, 16). 

The day may not be far distant when this beast shall 
separate man from man by his mark being " on their 
right hand and in their foreheads." 

Will spiritualism, or Romanism, or sophistry, or man's 
infidel questioning of God's Word, " deliver" or " save " 
him in that day of awful manifestation ? 

" Our Apostle, standing on the mount of prophetic 
vision, and directing his eye, under the guidance of the 
Holy Spirit, along the course of this dispensation, saw the 
dark clouds of superstition and infidelity gathering around 
its closing scenes. He warned his son Timothy, and 



230 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

through him he still warns every faithful teacher in the 
Church, of the errors tending to produce these fearful 
evils : ' This know also, that in the last days perilous 
times shall come.' 

" Which days will be the closing period of the present 
age ? — the day of gospel grace — to be terminated by the 
coming of the Lord Jesus Christ. Whether we look at the 
abounding superstition of the times, or at the increas- 
ing rationalistic tendencies of professing Christians, we 
cannot but discern the truth of the prediction, ' having a 
form of godliness, but denying the power thereof.' We 
see that ritualism, whether Roman or Anglican, makes 
ordinances essential to salvation, and thus sets aside the 
sole ground of pardon and peace, through the blood of 
Christ; and which virtually denies that salvation is of 
faith alone. We see that ritualism clings to its forms of 
religion with more than Jewish zeal and superstition. We 
see, too, that rationalism, which denies the veritable in- 
spiration of God's holy Word, and which rejects the great 
fundamental truth of Christ's one sacrifice for sinners, can 
likewise cling to religious forms, making them of more 
moment than the great foundation truth on which God has 
rested the honour of His eternal holiness and justice, in 
granting saving mercy to guilty man. 

"While the forms of godliness are attended with a 
slavish devotedness, no one can look intently beneath the 
surface, without discovering that there is a widely diffused 
spirit of latitudinarianism underlying this mass of ritualism. 
The inspiration of God's Word is not held by those who 
assume to possess high mental powers, and to be the 
leaders of progress in spiritual things. The blessed 
doctrines, for which our reformers, and those of continental 
Europe, were ready to sacrifice their lives, are considered 
effete and ineffectual to answer their proposed end. There 
is an unwillingness to submit to the definiteness of Scrip- 
ture testimony, and a desire to have all things loose and 
undecided — in short, an unsettling of the foundations, and 
a removing of the ancient landmarks, as though men 
would throw everything back into chaos. 

" It would be matter of joy to many who have no desire 
to judge any servant of the Lord, if every faithful minister 
of Christ would abstain from affirming their belief in 
ordinances of human invention. But it cannot be denied 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 231 

tliat the aversion to creeds, reviewing itself in all sections 
of the professing Church, the claim for free thought and 
testimony on the part of human reason, and the attempt 
to set aside all definite statements as to what is, and what 
is not, God's truth, arise from unbelief in God's revealed 
word and will. It is man's reason asserting its claims 
against the thoughts and testimony of God. The only 
remedy for this evil is for the true believer to accept God's 
solemn warning concerning the coming evil, and to cling 
closely and constantly to the word of truth and life. There 
is no safe footing for the mind or heart outside the sure 
foundation and apart from the great essential truths of the 
gospel of our salvation. And this Satan knows, and there- 
fore seeks to exalt human reason, in its own eyes, against 
the truth of God, that he may cause it to know a more 
fearful fall; for doubtless all this is tending to the great 
apostacy." — Rev. John Offord. 

"Men, without the guidance of the Holy Spirit, are just 
as liable to deadly and fatal error in our own times as in 
any previous age. The louder their boasts of intellectual 
advancement and superior intelligence, the more plainly 
the snares of that great deceiver, who is ' king over all the 
children of pride,' are weaving around their path. It is 
only by returning to sit, with the docility of little children, 
at the feet of Christ, that they can avoid the danger which 
the prophet has described in such vivid terms : ' Give glory 
to the Lord your God, before He cause darkness, and your 
feet stumble on the dark mountains ; and while ye look for 
light He turn it into the shadow of death, and make it gross 
darkness.' The Bible is a history of redemption, but of a 
redemption still incomplete, and of which the full and open 
triumph is reserved for days to come. "Viewed in the light 
of this great truth, a singular unity of prophetic hope runs 
through the whole, and becomes doubly striking, when we 
compare its earliest and latest messages. No books of the 
Bible are more contrasted in their general character than 
Genesis and Revelation : the interval of time which sepa- 
rates them is more than fifteen hundred years. The first 
is a simple, unadorned history; the second a series of 
highly poetical visions. The first is the earliest variety of 
Hebrew prose ; the second, in a language then unborn, 
embodies the main features of Hebrew poetry. The Book 



232 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

of Genesis records common events upon earth. ; the Apoca- 
lypse, to a great extent, is the description of heavenly- 
wonders. One is a preface to the Law, the other a supple- 
ment to the Gospel. One was written by the adopted son 
of Pharaoh's daughter, learned in all the wisdom of Egypt ; 
the other, by an unlearned fisherman of despised Galilee. 
The first abounds with innumerable details, names of per- 
sons, places, and domestic animals of the most minute and 
various kind ; while the other scarcely stoops to set its foot 
upon earth, but dwells apart as on a mount of transfigura- 
tion. When the former was composed Israel had scarcely 
begun to be a nation ; but when the exile received his 
visions in Patmos, their national history was closed for 
ages, and they were already outcasts and wanderers through 
the earth. All things were on earth changed in this long 
interval — Egypt, Canaan, and Babylon — only God and His 
redeeming grace remained unchangeable. Yet the latest 
book corresponds to the earliest, as the loops and curtains 
of th.e tabernacle, or the various parts of the temple, with 
multiplied harmonies, partly of the most obvious, but in 
part of the most delicate and unobtrusive kind. Creation 
has its counterpart in the promise, ' Behold I make all 
things new.' The uncreated light which, fills the heavenly 
city ; the successive revelation of the beast from the sea, 
the beast from the earth, and one like to the Son of Man ; 
the sabbatic rest of a thousand years ; the river from the 
throne watering the heavenly Paradise ; the great river 
Euphrates ; the gold and precious stones of the new Jeru- 
salem ; the tree of life in the Paradise of God ; the marriage 
of the Lamb ; the second Adam ; the clothing in which the 
bride is arrayed ; the old serpent, the deceiver of the nations ; 
the woman and her mystic seed, and sore travail ; the re- 
moval of the curse ; and the angel guards at the open gates 
of the heavenly Paradise; the cry of the martyrs from 
beneath the altar of burnt offering; and the rainbow around 
the throne, are all so many distinct allusions in this closing 
prophecy to the earliest chapters of the sacred history. 
The Old Testament here conspires with the New, and the 
history of the world's first infancy is seen to be stored with 
lessons of Divine wisdom, which were to be fully unveiled, 
after six or seven thousand years, in the final close of the 
mystery of God. The Bible, then, amidst the large variety 
of its contents, which, embrace an interval of fifteen cen- 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 233 

turies in their composition, and seven thousand years in the 
time to which they refer — in its histories, psalms, proverbs? 
prophecies, and epistles, earthly facts and heavenly revela- 
tions — exhibits, from first to last, the clear signs of a Divine 
unity which pervades and animates the whole. Its distinct 
parts are not of separate interpretation. Behind the human 
authors stood the Divine Spirit, controlling, guiding, and 
suggesting every part of their different messages. Their 
words ' came not at any time by the will of man, but holy 
men of God spake, borne along by the Holy Ghost.' As 
the Jordan flows underground in part of its course, so this 
Divine unity may be obscured from hasty observers by the 
multitude of intervening works of which the whole message 
is composed, by the variety of historical details, the diversity 
of manner and style, of age and local circumstance, in the 
sixty-six books which constitute the Bible ; but its sunrise 
and sunset are equally glorious, and reveal clearly the 
hidden harmony of the whole revelation. It traces the 
course of Providence from that creation in which our earth 
was prepared for the habitation of men, to the complete 
accomplishment of that new creation, in which it will be 
the habitation of righteousness for ever. It begins with 
the first bridal of Adam and Eve, the parents of all man- 
kind, and closes with the heavenly bridal of the second 
Adam, the Lord from heaven, and the Church of the first- 
born, in whom the great mystery of that ordinance is fulfilled. 
It begins with a vision of the earthly Paradise forfeited 
by sin, and the taste of the forbidden tree of knowledge. 
It closes with the revelation of a better and heavenly 
Paradise, where no tree of knowledge is seen, but the tree 
of life alone, and even its leaves are for the healing of the 
nations. It begins with the success of the old serpent in 
deceiving Adam and Eve ; and ends with the vision of his 
overthrow by the seed of the woman, when he can deceive 
the nations no more, but sinks under the righteous judg- 
ment of God. It begins with man's exclusion from Pa- 
radise by the watching cherubim and the flaming sword ; 
and ends with the revelation of the heavenly Jerusalem, 
whose gates are open continually, while an angel at every 
gate invites the nations of the saved to bring their honour 
and glory into the city of God. The more closely, then, 
we examine the Bible, the more plainly it will appear to 
be indeed 'the true sayings of God,' 'the Word of God 



234 SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 

which, liveth and abideth for ever.' In its width, its free- 
dom, and its grandeur, it reflects the largeness of God's 
universal Providence. Like that Providence, it has its 
seeming discrepancies, and its real perplexities, much to 
exercise faith, as well as much by which it is nourished, 
parts which may appear trivial and superfluous, and depths 
which repel the frivolous with a sense of impenetrable 
gloom. Even those who sincerely embrace the Gospel 
may rest satisfied with a dim and imperfect measure of 
knowledge, and have thus their faith in it exposed to sore 
trial, whenever new temptations assail the Church of Christ ; 
but, in proportion as we search it with humble diligence and 
earnest prayer, fresh harmonies of Divine truth, and new 
wonders of Divine grace and love, will disclose themselves 
to our view. One difficulty after another will slowly melt 
away, and resolve itself into a halo of heavenly beauty. 
Sixty generations of the Church have studied it un- 
ceasingly; but this incorruptible manna neither wastes 
nor corrupts, and they have never exhausted its stores of 
Divine wisdom. Sixty generations of unbelievers have 
assailed it on every side with winds of false doctrine ; but 
it has only rooted itself the more firmly in the hearts of 
Christians, and in the history of the world. And still, 
after all these ages, there are deep mines of truth in it 
which have never been explored, rich harvests of spiritual 
food still to be reaped by coming generations, and healing 
medicines for countless evils that are still concealed in the 
depths of future time. The words of the prophet to Ariel 
of old will assuredly be fulfilled, soon or late, in all who 
assail this enduring Word of God. ' And the multitude of 
the nations that fight against her, and her munition, shall 
be even as the dream of a night vision. It shall be as 
when a hungry man dreameth and behold he eateth, but 
he waketh, and his soul is empty ; or a thirsty man 
dreameth, and behold he drinketh, but he waketh, and is 
faint, and his soul hath appetite : so shall all the mul- 
titude of the nations be that fight against Zion.' But those 
who draw near with reverence, and while they meditate, 
loose their shoes from their feet on this holy ground, will 
equally find the promise of the Psalmist fulfilled in their 
own experience : ' They shall be abundantly satisfied with 
the fulness of Thy house ; and Thou wilt make them drink 
of the river of Thy pleasures. For with Thee is the fountain 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 235 

of life : and in Thy light shall we see light.' The meteors 
of false philosophy blaze for a moment, and disappear, but 
the written Word of Grod is an effluence from the Un- 
created Light and must endure for ever."— il The Bible 
and Modem Thought" hy Rev T. R. Birhs. 

The writer was about to close this book, containing 
so many and solemn quotations, desiring in so doing to 
point to the Bible as the only foundation of truth and 
blessing, when the foregoing most comprehensive and 
condensed analysis of God's Word was met •with, 
leaving the writer nothing more to say than to express 
a longing desire that the contents of this book may — 
if it so please Grod — be the means of bringing some to, 
and confirming others in the truth that " the entrance 
of Thy words giveth light," with an experimental 
knowledge that the only source and revelation of all 
truth is the Bible, and the only refuge for sinners, 
and those deluded by "an angel of light," is the Lord 
Jesus Christ, and the only Teacher of Divine truth is 
God the Holy Spirit. 



" Wherefore let him that thinketh he standeth take 
heed lest he fall."— 1 Cor. x. 12. 

" Cursed be the man that trusteth in man, and maketh 
flesh his arm, and whose heart departeth from the Lord. 
For he shall be like the heath in the desert, and shall 
not see when good cometh." — Jer. xvii. 5, 6. 

" He that is unjust, let him be unjust still : and he 
which is filthy, let him be filthy still : and he that is 
righteous, let him be righteous still : and he that is 
holy, let him be holy still." — Rev. xxii. 11. 

"For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whorer 



236 



SPIRITUALISM AND OTHER SIGNS. 



mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever 
loveth and maketh a lie." — Eev. xxii. 15. 



" Blessed is the man that trastest in the Lord, and 
whose hope the Lord is. For he shall be as a tree 
planted by the waters, and that spreadeth out her roots 
by the river."- — Jer. xvii. 7, 8. 

" And there shall be no more curse : but the throne of 
Grod and of the Lamb shall be in it ; and His servants 
shall serve Him : and they shall see His face ; and His 
name shall be in their foreheads." — Eev. xxii. 3, 4. 

" Lord to whom shall we go ? Thou hast the words 
of eternal life." For out of Thee " all is vanity and 
vexation of spirit." — John vi. 68 ; and Eccles. i. 14. 

" Soon and for ever the work shall be done, 
The warfare accomplished, the victory won ; 
Soon and for ever the soldier lay down 
The sword for a harp, the cross for a crown : 
Then sink not in sorrow, despond not in fear, 
A glorious to-morrow is brightening and near, 
When — blessed reward for each faithful endeavour — 
Christians with Christ shall be, soon and for ever!" 



THE END. 



"W. H. Collingridge, 117 to 119, Aldersgate Street, London, E.C. 



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